


Butterfly's Wings

by Vrykerion



Category: Kim Possible (Cartoon)
Genre: Cyberpunk, F/M, Gen, Post-Graduation, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2018-10-16 01:16:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 28,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10560926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vrykerion/pseuds/Vrykerion
Summary: As Kim Possible is about the learn - sometimes it just takes one moment in time, one single event, to change everything.





	1. End

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fan work. Kim Possible and all associated characters are the property of Walt Disney and Buena Vista Television.

**Kim Possible::Butterfly's Wings**

**Chapter 1: End**

**Location:** Mad Zaps Electronics Warehouse, Lowerton

 **Time:** July 17th, 2005. 2 Months After Lorwardian Invasion (High School Graduation)

The massive air vent system was silent save for the soft footfalls of the stealthy intruders slowly making their way through the labyrinth of metallic tunnels. A shadow dances through the hollow tubes, expertly twisting and bending its way to insure a minimal amount of time touching the cold metal that would echo and shake with the slightest heavy impact. Behind the graceful shadow a ways is another, taking a somewhat variant approach to the art of sneaking. The second shadow was lying flat on its belly, slowly sliding itself across the metal. Moving less like a snake and more like a worm trapped on the hard sidewalk, it was moving albeit not to the speed of its partner.

"Hurry up, Ron!" The graceful shadow muttered quietly, "We need to see what they're talking about. How often do villains get together like this?"

"Once a month for their villains anonymous? I saw a flier about VA meetings on the bulletin board at the library and-"

"That's veteran affairs, Ron. Not villains anonymous. Now hurry up, I want to get out of here in time to make our dinner date reservations."

The mention of the word 'date' increased the worming shadows momentum. It quickly squirmed up to its partner just before a grate leading down into a large room below.

Sitting around a massive conference table were the assembled might of the greatest forces of villainy to ever assault the city of Middleton: The mad golfer - Duff Kiligan, the half simian martial artist - Lord Montgomery 'Monkey Fist' Fisk, the wealthy and bored Seniors - Senior and Junior, the want to be dictator, Professor Dementor, the comet powered combat queen - Shego, and the mad scientist and recently developed floramancer - Dr. Drakken.

"Ya must be daft, blue boy!" angrily shouted the golfing Scotsman.

"Indeed. We all signed the contract." Fisk grunted at the grinning blue scientist and his partner.

Senor Senior Sr. developed a ponderous look on his face, "What is this contract business you speak of?"

Dementor fielded the question, "The World-wide Evil Empire and Global Justice established a CONTRACTUAL code of conduct regarding freelance villainy. Part of zat vas that ve are only able to enforce ZE NON-LETHAL counter offensives against-"

"AGAINST MINORS, Professor." Drakken announced, "I just clarified the whole thing with Gemini. Now that the brat is eighteen, she indeed may think she's all that. But no longer."

The mad scientist's grin slowly spread across the room.

"Does she know?" asked Junior.

"We don't think so. GJ's been tied up with that whole robot army insurrection thing in Russia for weeks." Shego said with her voice tittering on the edge of laughter, "She has no idea. Oh and you got to see what the Doc cooked up to tell her!"

Drakken took the opportunity to pull back a large curtain to reveal a massive robot styled to look like a toy devil but with a cybernetic make over. Massive hoses and tubes wrapping around the thing and centering on a massive cannon in the chest.

"Did you not already try this scheme, Drakken?" Queried Senior.

"And did it not fail spectacularly?" Fisk said with a sly grin.

Drakken sneered at the half-monkey, half-aristocrat, "It did. However this model is improved! Using this cannon which is reinforced with a high density alloy at all critical joints, it can fire anywhere from a precision beam that can write a name to a massive blast that can level city blocks! Any person in the blast would be incinerated in seconds. While not enough to conquer the world, it is sufficient enough to put all of Middleton under my heel."

Meanwhile, back up in the ductwork, the shadows look on at the machine. "That's not good." the graceful shadow said, forgetting to quiet her voice in a moment of sheer surprise.

"None of this is good, Kim. Did you hear them? Do you know what the opposite of Non-Lethal is? Let me do my math. Carry the five, drop the one…" the wormy shadow began moving his fingers to match his 'arithmetic', "Oh wait. IT'S LETHAL." He stressed in a whispered shout.

"Oh come on, Ron. It's Drakken. For him that's like going from a nerf bat to a whiffle ball bat."

"Whiffle ball bats HURT, KP. Let's just get out here? Go get some Bueno Nacho and watch a movie? We can report this to Global Justice. They can handle doomsday robots pretty well, right?"

"Have you not been paying to attention to what's going in Russia? Look Ron, if you're worried, you can stay up here. But I'm going down there." The graceful shadow opened the vent and leapt down with her wormy companion reaching out to stop her only seconds too slow.

The villains had all gathered around to admire the massive doombot. They walked around it and checked out every inch. Murmurs of Ooo's and Aaah's filled the air and caused Drakken to puff out his chest in pride. Shego on the other hand was eyeing the oglers. Particular the younger Senior, who was taking an uncharacteristic interest in the robot's specs, "Something on your mind, Junior?"

The macho pretty boy turned quickly toward the green skinned woman, "Ah, yes. I was just wondering how you got such an impressively shiny cannon. I might be interested in getting one. Uh… For my papa!"

The elder senior beamed at his son. Shego opened her mouth to speak but quickly closed it with a roll of her eyes as she saw Drakken quickly shifted from absorbing pride to his used car salesman mode, "Ah yes. The cannon. Unfortunately, boy, you won't be able to find one anywhere. You see, I acquired this impressive piece of tech during the Lorwardian invasion. Ripped it right off Warhok's ship myself and stashed it until I was released from prison. It's truly a one of a kind weapon of mass destruction."

Junior nodded with an impressed look and then spoke with a complete different voice, "Just what I was hoping you say."

The villains froze in place. Senor Senior Sr stepped over to Junior, "My son, what happened to your-"

"I'm not your son. He's in custody. Just as you all are about to be." Junior sunk his fingers into his neck and pulled back revealing his face to be a simple mask for - "Will Du. Global Justice. And your all-"

"About to be in a world of hurt!" shouted a red headed teenage girl and she fell through the air, did a series of midair rolls and landed perfectly on the conference table.

Behind her falling from a ceiling with a massive thud is a blonde haired boy of the same age. He landed face first and lied there with his rear sticking up and his pants sliding half off, "I'm… okay."

"Well, well, well… Kim Possible! And the buffoon. And Agent Dewey." Drakken said proudly as he produced a control pad.

"It's Du. Will Du." said the secret agent.

"Whatever! You'll be atoms in mere moments. Behold!" Drakken pressed a large red button on the pad and the machine behind him whirred to life. Sparks began flying as the alien device in its chest began charging. "Ultimate Diablo! DESTROY THEM!"

The machine launched into action, dropping its massive foot onto the conference table and shattering it into splinters. Kim had only barely dodged out the way by somersaulting back over to Ron. There she knelt down quickly and helped her friend to his feet, "Think you can nab that controller?"

Ron brushed himself off and gave quick grin and a nod before Kim leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Kim then jumped up and off the wall to latch on to the various cords and tubes dangling from the ceiling, leaping back and forth to dodge the swings of the robot's claws.

Agent Will Du had taken it upon himself to occupy the villains. Nimbly dodging and blocking every swing that came his way thanks to the patent techniques of the Global Justice Mixed Martial Arts Training he received as an agent. He was quickly able to disable Killigan, Senor Senior Sr., and Dementor.

Ron rushed past Du and did a jump off Professor Dementor's helmeted head towards Drakken who was shaking the control pad and grumbling, "Hurry… HURRY!" However, his advance was stopped abruptly by both Shego and Monkey Fist. They grabbed his legs and threw him to the ground.

Kim aerial acrobatics were succeeding in keeping the robot at bay for the moment, but it was no long term solution. She looked around to scan the situation she noticed that the cords that were getting shredded were draping around the robots legs. She smiled and started jumping to do circles around the robot which caused its large legs to start getting tangled in the mess.

Ron pulled himself up in front of Shego and Monkey Fist. Shego ignited her hands and Monkey Fist did a quick series of punches to warm up. Ron, however, just grinned. Ron's body began to glow with a bright blue energy.

Shego's eyes grew wide. She knew that glow. She used the charge of her fists to burn a hole in the wall behind them and immediately ran out through it. Leaving Monkey Fist confused as he watched her run away, "The devil? Are you spineless? It's just the…," Lord Monty Fisk turned his head back toward Ron to see the Mystical Monkey awakened, "...buffoon. Oh dear."

Ron unleashed his full power on Monkey Fist, landing punch after punch on the simian aristocrat. After a few hundred blows and mere seconds, Monkey Fist fell to the ground. His body smoking from where the kinetic heat of Ron's punches singed his fur, "Can… I go back… to being in stone… now? Please?"

Kim's plan was going perfectly. The robot was starting to trip up on its own feet amid all the hanging and scrapped cords on the ground. It was only a matter of time before- and faster than Kim could finish her thought the machine collapsed on the ground. "Time for the finishing blow!" Kim shouted as she leapt from on high and starting coming down her legs toward the robot's chest. Then out of nowhere came the strangest sound. A gentle ding. Like when the timer goes off on a toaster oven. Just… Ding.

"Ding?" Kim said perplexed as she dove.

"Ding?" said Ron as he was winding up to punch Drakken.

"Ha ha ha! DING!" cackled the blue scientist as he hit the button on the control pad.

That's when the robot stopped whirring and sparking. That's when the cannon in its chest lit up like a giant firefly and shot a beam about the width of a trashcan out. Ron's eyes went wide as he watched his best friend and girlfriend twist in mid-air as the beam connected to her right side.

Kim collapsed. She was flung back against the wall? Maybe? It all happened so quickly. Her eyes wide in a state of shock. Tears ran down her cheeks. She reached out to touch them, but nothing. Her head slowly turned to look. Her head already knew but her heart cannot fathom it. Blood. Burning. Nothing else. No arm. Part of her torso is scorched and seared off. Maybe part of her foot. Kim Possible did the only thing she could. She screamed.

Ron dashed over towards Kim. Panicked as he heard her voice, her beautiful voice, bellowing out heart wrenching screams of pain and horror. But as he was nearing her, he heard the lurching metal noise of the robot rising once again. He turned to see that horrid bright glow in the center of the thing's chest followed by the noise: Ding! Another blast. This one wider. It seared a small gorge of molten metal that used to be floor between Ron and Kim. Ron gritted his teeth, his eyes aflame with blue mystical power, "WILL! GET KIM OUT OF HERE!"

The Global Justice agent looked up from cuffing the various villains, "I'm a bit busy with my duties at the mome-."

"WILL! DO IT! OR SO HELP I AM COMING FOR YOU NEXT."

Will looked over at the glowing powerhouse that is Ron Stoppable. With a quick gulp at the display, he nodded quickly and dashed off behind Ron, flipping over the gorge and landing next to Kim, "It appears we must make an exit, Miss Possible."

"Ron… Where's Ron? RON?!" Kim screamed. She couldn't tell left from right at the moment. All she cared about was making sure that her boyfriend was safe.

"He's occupied, Miss Possible. I'm sure he'll be along shortly." Will lifted her up by her one arm and help her hobble her way out.

As they headed toward the exit, all Ron could hear was Kim's mournful crying screams of his name. It fueled him with a righteous anger, spurred on even further by the laughing blueberry in a lab coat standing by the robot, "Ha ha ha! Like she'll make it out of here alive. Ultimate Diablo! Annihilation mode!"

The robot charged up what appeared to be a massive beam. Ron could only think this was the 'leveling a city block' bit from earlier, "Heh. All I wanted to do was watch a movie with my girlfriend and eat junk food."

He couldn't let this happen. He concentrated every ounce of his mystic monkey power. He was less Ron and more bright blue orb at this point, "But you had to go and ruin it!"

Ron launched himself at the Ultimate Diablo, and just before he connected he could hear that damned noise once again - Ding!

"That's right, asshole. DING!"

Will had gotten Kim outside of the building where the police and firefighters had already started to assemble in response to the commotion. Then it happened. The rumbling, the noise, and the heat. Maybe it was just the adrenaline in his system, but Will barely reacted. He just focused on getting Kim Possible to safety. From the screams in his ear though, it seems she understandably noticed. Most of the city did he imagined. It's hard to ignore a huge building like that exploding.

By the time the ambulance drivers got to Kim, she had screamed herself hoarse. It didn't stop her from trying though. She was covered in blood, her face had received second degree burns from being in just proximity to the beam, and as she was rolled on a stretcher in the back of an ambulance all she could do was watch the building where Ronald Stoppable died burn to the ground.

* * *

**Next Chapter: Rise**


	2. Rise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fan work. Kim Possible and all associated characters are the property of Walt Disney and Buena Vista Television.

**Location:** Global Justice Headquarters

**Time:** July 22nd, 2005. 1900 hours.

"We are ready for your report, Agent Du."

Agent Will Du stepped up into the large illuminated circle to address the shadowy council whose video screens lined the walls of the room.

"Yes, Doctor Director. The cleanup of Site C24 in Lowerton was completed as of 10:16 am this morning. During the clean-up, we were able to confirm the deaths of Duff Killigan, Montgomery Fisk, Senor Senior Sr., and Professor Dementor. However the remains of Shego, Doctor Drakken, and the contraband Lorwardian technology were not able to be located. It is possible that considering that the technology was a Class 8 energy weapon, it simply vaporized them when it exploded."

Will pushed a button on a small handheld device and a holographic projection of a pile of burnt corpses hovered into view in the center of the room.

"This theory is corroborated by the fact that the remains of the others found in the site did experience some disintegration. As you can see in the image, those closest to the blast-"

"What about Team Possible? What is the status there?" Doctor Directors face emerged from the shadows on the central screen, a look of complete seriousness chiseled into it.

Will gave an audible gulp, "Kim Possible has lost her right arm and suffered damage to 15% of her torso on the same side. While no vital organs were damaged in the blast, the damage to the muscle tissue and epidermis is quite extensive. The impact of her collision with the wall also caused extensive injury to her T6, 7, and 8 vertebrae resulting in paralysis from her waist down. She also appears to have lost approximately 3 square inches of her right foot including two toes."

"AND WHAT OF THE STOPPABLE BOY?" One of the other shadowy monitors asked in a heavily synthetic voice.

"Nothing was located to indicate any trace of Ron Stoppable. No blood, no torn clothing, and not a speck of DNA. All we have to draw any conclusions is this." Will pushed the button again bringing up a wider angle photo of the remains of the warehouse. Next to where the charred bodies lied was a massive spherical crater cut into the floor, "It's unclear if this was caused by the same Class 8 weapon. The hole is completely smooth compared to the beams' destruction which melted what it came into contact with. However, it is possible that the crater is a result of a secondary effect of the device's explosion that had a limited radius."

Will pushed the button again and the holographic display vanished, "Unfortunately, there is no evidence of anything that could have been in that sphere. There's no trace of the machine, Drakken, or Ron Stoppable. Anything that was there has been wiped from the face of creation."

"ThAnK YoU AgEnT Du." Another synthetic voice said, this one with a slightly feminine tone, "OnE FiNaL QuEsTiOn. WhAt Is YoUr OpInIoN oF KiM PoSSibLE's CanDidACY for a GlObAl JuStIcE AgEnT?"

Will stood silently for a moment, a look of intense concentration on his face, "In her condition? Both physical and emotional? It's impossible."

"Oh, I'm not sure Will." Doctor Director smiled on her monitor, "I don't think anything is impossible for a Possible."

* * *

**LOCATION:** Middleton Hospital

**TIME:** July 19th, 2005. 1400 hours.

Kim Possible was lying in a hospital bed. Her eyes were puffy and red from nearly a day and a half on non-stop crying. The right half of body was encased in heavy bandages, and she was strapped down to keep her from rolling in her sleep. The whole situation may have been slightly more bearable had she not continuously have to remind herself to use her left hand to scratch her nose. As it stood, even that simple act was enough to return the tears to her eyes.

"Kimmie cub?" a woman's voice in the room called. It seemed muffled and distant.

"It's all over." Kim muttered in a hoarse voice.

"That's not true, dear. Far from it. You're still alive." the voice spoke again.

"Ron's gone. Arms gone. Hero business is gone." Kim's eyes were welling up again with fresh tears.

"College isn't gone. Family isn't gone. Kimmie isn't gone. Thank god that Kimmie isn't gone." the voice seemed to get closer. It was filled with grief and sadness. Kim looked over to see her mother and father sitting in a pair of chairs on the side of the bed. Ann Possible was crying but still wore a forced smile, but James had a stern dead serious look on his face as he looked not at his daughter but through a newspaper bearing the headline, 'Man or Machine? Mayhem in Moscow!'

"Dad?" Kim croaked.

James snapped out of his concentration, "Kimberly. I… uh… I'm sorry I was just having a thought. It's gonna be okay, Kim. Your mother is right, this is far from the end. After all, if anyone can come back from this it's you. Anything's possible..."

And for the first time since the incident, Kim managed a small but genuine smile, "For.. a Possible."

James smiled back and nodded. Ann leaned in and placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder, "Kim, I just felt I should let you know. Global Justice was here earlier wanting a statement. I told them to get lost. You take your time getting better, honey. We'll be here."

* * *

**LOCATION:** Westwood Cemetery

**TIME:** July 26th, 2005. 0900 hours.

Kim sat in her wheelchair, bandages still strapped across her burned and damaged form, as she watched the empty casket that served as a memorial to her best friend and boyfriend be lowered into the ground. She let her eyes wander to the sky, if only to offer a momentary reprieve from the sorrow. The sky was blue, the sun shining - it was the kind of day that Ron would have loved. That was something. Some condolence for this whole travesty.

It was an impressive number of people who came to the funeral. Not only a large number of people from school - including the crew of bullies that would pick on Ron, and Bonnie Rockwaller of all people - but also Yori, Sensei, and several other students from Yamanouchi, Mr. Nakasumi and his assistant Yoshiko, and even famous actors Quinn and Heather came.

Kim smiled through her tears realizing how many people's lives her best friend had touched. To think he always considered himself something of an outcast.

After the funeral, Ron's parents approached Kim and gave her a hug. "He was always happiest when you were happy, Kim," Mrs. Stoppable said, "I'm sure his soul is happy knowing that his last action was protecting you."

That was the last straw. Kim broke down in sobs, "I am so sorry. It should have never… I should have… Oh god, I am so sorry."

Ron's dad placed his hand on Kim's shoulder, "Kimberly, no one holds you the least bit responsible for this. As an actuary, I knew each time the two of you left what the risks were. My son died a hero though. We're all going to miss him so, but at least we can be proud of who he was and what he did."

Ron's mom pulled away, finally releasing Kim from the hug. She too had tears rolling down her cheeks, "You will always be family, Kim. If there's anything we can do, you just let us know."

Kim wiped away her tears with her sleeve, "Likewise, Mrs. Stoppable."

The two adults left the teen girl alone on the hill. Kim rolled herself closer to the headstone, "Oh Ron, what am I going to do without you?"

* * *

**LOCATION:** Middleton Space Center Press Conference Room

**TIME:** July 30th, 2005. 1000 hours.

"-No, the Hephaestus Project was stolen, not leaked!" Doctor James Possible stood at the front of the large room, his head was glinting with sweat under the harsh lights and flash bulbs. He had only been at the podium for minutes and it was already the most intense experience in his life.

"Right. Stolen. By a mad scientist you said. Was this before or after you deleted the entire project using a voice command that responds only to your voice?" a reporter asked.

"It was after. I deleted it so he couldn't get to it. But then he had a brain-tap machine that he used to read my mind. Luckily, my daughter stopped him before he could cause serious harm."

Another reporter stood up, "Serious harm, Dr. Possible? They've had to quarantine the entire city of Moscow because of the half-machine monsters that we are getting reports are being created by your invention."

Dr. Possible rested his head in his hands as he stared down at the grain pattern of the wooden podium. He tried to take a few deep breaths, but was stopped when out of the corner of his eye he spotted his boss just off stage shaking his head. James gulped hard as he raised his head once more.

"If your daughter is a target for these villains, aren't you a security risk, Dr. Possible?"

"Are you denying that your Hephaestus project was behind the Moscow Incident?"

"Is it true that you and this Drew Lipsky character were actually friends in college?"

"Doctor Possible, what do you have to say…?"

* * *

**LOCATION:** Upperton University

**TIME:** August 25th, 2005. 0900 hours.

Kim pushed the joystick on her motorized wheelchair the Tweebs had helped design for her and the tires started rolling up the ramp to the administration building. Upperton was not Kim's first choice for a college. It wasn't even in her top ten. But with the way things were now, she had seen the necessity of being close to family. For moral, psychological and physical help when it was needed.

Swinging in an extremely late acceptance to enroll wasn't an issue. She was famous after all, and the attack in Lowerton was fairly well publicized in the news until the fervor of the Moscow Incident dominated the rest of the summer. No, the issue now was going to be money. With her injuries, Kim couldn't take advantage of the cheerleading scholarship she had originally been offered to stay in-state, and with her father being demoted at work and removed from all government contracts, it was pretty much just her mother's income carrying the mortgage, the family and now Kim's college.

Hopefully, the bursar would have some good news.

Kim turned her wheelchair to enter the financial aid office but turned too quick and smacked her arm against the door frame. She inhaled deeply at the stinging sensation, a wave of sadness coming over her as she thought about how she used to dive out of helicopters with ease and now a set of stairs or a narrow door frame could defeat her.

She rolled into the office and handed the secretary a stack of papers from her lap, "I'm Kimberly Possible, looking to get some financial aid?"

The secretary just stared at the red-headed girl for a moment, as synapses tried to bridge the image with the reality before her, "Of course, Ms. Possible. One moment please." The secretary stood up and headed into the office behind her.

Across the hall, at the registrar's office, a crowd of freshman bunch around the window. They pushed and shoved, each trying to one up each other to be first to register for their favorite classes. They banged on the glass to get attention but no one came to the window. Instead an elderly woman with an annoyed look on her face stared at the mob from her desk across the office behind the window. She then pointed at the small bell marked, "RING FOR SERVICE." The freshmen gave a unified 'Ooooooh' and slammed their hands on the bell with a resounding DING!

"Alright, Ms. Possible. He's ready for yo- Oh dear!" the secretary returned to exclaim, dropping her stack of papers that she had brought back with her. Kim had collapsed out of her wheelchair, and was curled up on the ground in a fetal position. Her eyes wide with terror and shaking in fear. She could not move. She could not speak. The memories of pain ripping across her side consumed her thoughts and that noise - ding! - was all the she could hear.

* * *

**LOCATION:** Hench Co Corporate Offices

**TIME:** September 1st, 2005. 1100 hours

"The future is now!" proudly proclaimed Jack Hench, standing tall on a massive stage, "Thanks to the new Hench Co Pioneering Advanced Cybertronic Technology division, or PACT, we now have the capability of not just no longer living in fear of the advancements created by the incident in Moscow, but harnessing it to improve our lives immeasurably!"

A pair of HenchMen in armored uniforms came out from the side of the stage rolling out a massive cage. Inside the steel bars was what appeared to be a human of some kind, but he had metal tubing sticking out of him, large iron poles jetting out from its back, and faint blue circuitry designs embedded into its skin.

"This poor misshapen creature is but one of many found all across Europe now thanks to the explosion in Moscow months ago. But watch what happens when I inject it with the Pioneering Advanced Cybertronic Technology Chip, or 'The PATCH' for short," Jack Hench announced as he strode across the stage. The thing in the cage lunged at him drawing an audible gasp from the audience, "Oh there's no need to be worried folks. This here is patent HenchCo reinforced Tri-tanium alloy. We are all perfectly safe."

Jack pulled a small syringe out of his pocket, removed the cap and plunged it into the creature in the cage. As the plunger on the syringe was pushed down, Jack offered a large grin to the audience and held up one finger on his opposite hand. When the syringe emptied, Jack stepped back and the creature in the cage convulsed and shook, rattling the bars of the cage.

Murmurs of worry spread across the audience as the creature began to shrink, the metal appendages visibly shrinking as they were absorbed into the now looking far more human thing's body. After a minute of seizure like shaking, a young man of twenty or so stood up in the cage. Across his skin was still the faintly glowing blue circuitry across his body, and his eyes had a faint blue glow to them as well, but otherwise he looked perfectly normal.

"Oh but that's not all The Patch is capable of doing for the world, ladies & gentlemen," Jack announced as he produced a small device from his back pocket, "Just watch as I use the powers of The Patch to not only cure this man, but ascend him to the next level of humanity!" Jack Hench tapped the touch screen of the device a few times and then pushed it up against the young man's neck, sending a jolt of electricity into the boy's body.

Immediately the man in the cage grabbed his arm and gritted his teeth in pain. "Yes, some pain may be involved depending on the modification. But we're working on that and hopefully version 2.0 projected for release just in time for Holiday shopping will have removed that 'bug'. Till then, just remember the old adage: No pain, no gain!"

In a perfectly timed moment of performance as soon as Jack stopped speaking the man's arm had begun to reconstruct itself. It now had an open panel on the forearm displaying a computer screen running the HenchOS, "Now this cured young man has his entire computer wherever he is. Music, movies, wireless internet communication - no longer held in the palm of your hand but built right into your body. Now that's progress!" Jack shouted triumphantly as the crowds began to cheer and clap.

* * *

**LOCATION:** Upperton University Dorms

**TIME:** March 14th, 2006. 2300 hours.

Kim laid on her dorm bed. The blinds were almost closed, but a few rays of light scattered across the floor making brilliant color patterns with the empty bottles of ill-gotten liquor littered about the dorm floor. Outside the door, Kim could hear whispers. There were always whispers.

'Did you hear she freaked out over at the admin office? I thought she was like a superhero or something?'

'God, what's that smell?'

'Heard she was a cheerleader in high school. Guess that means she used to be cute.'

Kim's one remaining hand reached out across the bed and grasped a bottle. She drew it to her lips, letting the sweet release pour down into her body. The liquor made the pain stop, even if it was only a moment. The liquor made the whispers seem further away. The liquor let her sleep. As the darkness took her she muttered the only response she could think of:

"Fuck'em all."

* * *

**LOCATION:** Munich, Germany.

**TIME:** October 21st, 2006. 1400 hours.

Explosions littered the area in the warzone that was once Munich. Soldiers dressed in the colors of Global Justice marched down the city streets and fired off shots of high powered plasma bolt blasting fire arms toward anything that moves. The city had been under siege for a month now by the Patch enhanced criminal element of Eastern Europe.

A Global Justice soldier rested his back up against a wall of an abandoned building. He took a lighter out of his pocket and brought it to the cigarette in his mouth. As soon as he had flicked the flint to start a spark, a metallic arm ripped through the wall behind and wrapped itself around the soldier's throat. It began to squeeze, cutting off air flow and crushing the wind pipe. The soldier's vision began to grow dark.

Suddenly, a large knife soared through the air, implanted itself deep into the metallic arm and sent sparks flying. Will Du leapt forward out of the dust and brought the knife down, rotating it ninety degrees and cutting the lower half of the arm clean off. Will grabbed the soldier's shoulder and tossed him to the ground to clear him from the area. Will then pulled out his side arm and let loose a barrage of bullets into the wall.

As Will heard the loud thud of a body collapsing on the other side of the wall, he let out a sigh of relief. One week on duty in Munich and it was already wearing on him. The teched out criminals were pretty much inexhaustible and kept up their assault day and night. If they weren't trying to kill him, it would almost be admirable. Human instinct, technological reflexes, these 'things' were almost perfect. Too bad their aggression was off the charts or they might have been useful. Still, they were a formidable foe. Trying to even put the slightest permanent dent in their forces was nigh impossible and for one fleeting moment, Agent Will Du actually wished that Kim Possible was there to help them.

* * *

**LOCATION:** Kim's Bedroom, Possible Family Home

**TIME:** February 10th, 2008. 0100 Hours.

Kim was laying on her bed in a skirt and a bra, the upper half of her SmartyMart uniform had been thrown on the floor. She had picking up whatever hours she could to cover the student loan payments, and SmartyMart was just about the best she could hope for in terms of employment with no degree and one arm.

She had given up on school. She couldn't focus on anything there anymore. She had moved back in with her family in hopes that it could help her get back on her feet. Hopefully it would keep her on the straight and narrow and stop the horrible drinking habit she had developed and repeatedly lied about but the shoe box under her bed with a number of small bottles with the labels torn off was the truth she wanted to bury.

Her desk was scattered with a mound papers: 'FINAL NOTICE', 'PAYMENT DUE', 'ACADEMIC PROBATION', and many others with large red letters. Below them just sticking out from the corner of the desk was an unopened letter from Global Justice. All just reminders to Kim of her failures. All just reminders of that one day.

"Kim? You awake?" her father called from the stairs leading up to her room.

Kim lifted her head and pushed herself up, grabbing a bathrobe and slipping it over her exposed body, "Yea, Dad. Just got home from stocking."

James Possible climbed up into the room, no longer wearing his button down shirt and tie but a Middleton Space Center jumpsuit caked in dust. He looked around the room to survey the complete disarray of the place and it molded a small frown on the doctor's lips. His daughter used to be overly sensitive about keeping things clean, an unorthodox trait in a teenager, but this was the opposite end of the spectrum, "I uh… just got home from indexing the warehouse and wanted to see how you were doing."

"Oh you know, Dad," Kim said with a voice devoid of emotion, "Not dead. Kinda wishing I was." As her father approached, she used her right foot to push the shoe box further under the bed, "I never thought myself to be prideful about saving the world, but here I am. Twice the fall."

James sat down next to his daughter and wrapped his arm around her, "I know the feeling, kiddo."

* * *

**LOCATION:** Middleton Space Center Robotics Laboratory

**TIME:** May 24th, 2008. 0000 Hours.

Doctor James Possible sorted through various crates of spare robotics parts in the warehouse. He would count, he would make a note, he would move on to the next crate. That was his job now. His job as a father to take care of his family. To take care of Anne, Tim, Jim, and… Kim. James let out a sigh. His only daughter was alone in this world and suffering and there wasn't much for him to do about it. Her twenty-first birthday around the corner, and they were just struggling to keep everyone fed and the bills paid so he couldn't even afford a damn cuddlebuddy for her.

James sat down on his step-ladder and began to sketch. It was about the only thing he could do to keep himself awake on these long nights. Robots, circuits, equations - ideas that would never be realized now that every government and scientific body on the planet viewed him as a liability. As if he knew that Hephaestus would be capable of creating half-human, half-machine hybrids that could take on entire armies? It's bad enough that every half-baked criminal on the planet was lining up to become a robot when real people could use that technology. People like Kim!

James dropped his pencil.

Kim could use that technology! James grabbed his pencil again and flipped the inventory worksheet paper over and began to blueprint. This year he would give his daughter the best gift yet. Everything he needed was right here in the warehouse. His supervisor was only around for maybe an hour a day. Some of the lab guys still owed him favors. He could do this.

* * *

**LOCATION:** Kim's Bedroom, Possible Family Home

**TIME:** July 2nd, 2008. 1900 Hours.

"You wanted to talk to me, Dad?" Kim asked as she sat at her desk going over her bills for the month.

James Possible stood at the entrance to his daughter's room with a grin larger than anything she had seen him wear in years, "Indeed Kimmie cub. Remember when I said you would have to wait for your birthday present because it wasn't ready yet?"

Kim's eyes rolled around as she thought back a couple of months, "Uh huh. I just figured it was because we were tight on cash."

James shook his head proudly, "Couldn't be further from the truth. Actually, it had to do more with finding time at work I could manage to get into the lab to work on it."

Kim's eyes went wide, "The LAB? Dad, you said work wouldn't let you near-"

"I know, I know, Kim. But the guys owed me some favors, and it was such a brilliant idea they couldn't possibly say no - aftersomegenerousbribes - and they even helped me out with the construction!"

Kim was baffled at this point, "Construction? Did you build me a robot pony or something? That was ten birthdays ago, Dad." She chuckled a bit, half at her own joke, and half just trying to ease the tension of the situation. This was bad. They couldn't afford for her Dad to lose his job. Especially with the Tweebs gearing up for college.

"I built you something better," James announced as he unrolled a large sheet of paper unveiling schematics for… an arm and a leg? Parts of a torso? Rocket boosters? Kim stared at the sheet of paper in complete bewilderment. James took the hint, "It's something of an upgrade for you Kimmie. I used some of my old Hephaestus know how to engineer new limbs for you, and a cybertronic chassis built into your torso, oh and a few other new features."

Kim's mouth dropped, "Dad. No. Why? Your job!?"

James dropped the blueprint and knelt down to his daughter, "My job is to make sure my daughter has every chance she can to live her dream. You want to save the world? I am going to make sure you are the best person for the job that ever lived."

Kim's eyes welled up with tears and rolled down the ridges of her burn scarred cheek. Her face couldn't decide which emotion to show - fear, happiness, anger, love - she decided to just skip the whole internal debate and threw her arms around her father, "Thank you. Thank you so much, Dad."

* * *

**LOCATION:** Middleton Hospital

**TIME:** July 5th, 2008. 2200 Hours.

Anne and James possible rolled their daughter in a wheelchair down the long hallway of the surgical wing of the hospital. They smiled and nodded at everyone they came across, trying to hide that they were sweating bullets. Everything they aimed to do here was illegal, immoral, and abuse of any and all trust they were given by those around them. But it was also for their daughter, and that made it worth it.

As they neared the room that Anne had discreetly reserved for an 'emergency plastic surgery' this evening, they heard a voice, "James. I had expected better of you."

The doctors Possible slowly turned to be greeted by Vivian Porter who began to march towards them, "Those weasels you call colleagues ratted you out, James. I know everything. The theft of government property, the violations of no less than twelve United Nations regulations about the use of experimental technology, and the horrific breach in ethical science. You did all this, just so your daughter could be a hero again."

Kim's heart began to pound harder and harder as Vivian approached. Her eyes wide with fear as she could hear the footsteps of her hopes being crushed approaching. James and Anne were not much better off, they stood rigid as Dr. Porter approached them. The coldness in her voice and the anger in her eyes could only mean that the attempt was dead in the water before it began.

"So, James. I only have ONE question for you," Vivian stated, her voice like steel cutting through the air and into the hearts of the Possible family. Vivian stopped as she came face-to-face with Kim's Dad, only mere inches apart, "Why didn't you ask me for help first? This is for KIM, for Pete's sake. You'd think you could trust me with this!" And with that, Dr. Porter let loose a thunderous slap against James Possible's cheek.

James froze for a second, her face still turned from the impact of the slap. He blinked a few times and then without moving his head looked at his wife, "I... am confused. Is this a good thing or bad thing?" Anne shrugged and Kim let loose a small but honest to goodness giggle.

"It's a very good thing, Doctor, if you are planning to implant semi-autonomous intelligence programs into your daughter to help maintain her core body functions along with all this additional hardware. Don't get me wrong, your cybertronic work is top notch - but you need an AI expert assisting on this one," Vivian stated stepping past James and Anne, then leaned down to Kim, "And don't you worry, Kim. You're going to better than new when you wake up tomorrow."

Kim smiled at Vivian and with tears of relief in her eyes, gave the older woman a big hug.

All three doctors then proceeded into the surgery room to get Kim prepped. As Anne laid her down on the operating table, James prepped a cart with various robotic body parts, and Vivian pulled out a laptop with a dozen different cords and attachments to it. Kim smiled as her mother lowered the face mask on to her and she fell asleep, and for the first time since high school Kim was excited for what tomorrow would bring.

* * *

****

Next Chapter: Phoenix

****


	3. Phoenix

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fan work. Kim Possible and all associated characters are the property of Walt Disney and Buena Vista Television.

**LOCATION:** St. Petersburg, Russia

**TIME:** September 3rd, 2009. 0600 Hours.

A black Global Justice helicopter flew low across the devastated city of St. Petersburg. It was one of the first cities to fall after of the Moscow Incident, turning it into a hollowed out rat's nest of tech-enhanced villains and more recently, various splinter cells of the Worldwide Evil Empire. Global Justice had spent over a year pushing back the ravaging hordes of 'tech infested' people who had gone mad with what the experts had called 'Human Degradation Psychosis' into the eastern areas of Europe. The United Nations followed suit by declaring nearly a quarter of Russia and most nations beyond Poland to be an international NML or No Man's Land. No law, no military, and no escape. The 'Wall' - a barricade of fence, concrete, guard stations, and automated turrets - was built around the entire U.N. Eurasian NML to keep the undesirables from flooding out again.

"Raven to Command. Come in command," the pilot said over the radio, "We have reached the destination, but the ground is crawling with WEEnies. Cannot establish an LZ."

"Copy that, Raven. No need for an LZ. Agent can handle it," a male voice radioed back.

The pilot looked around outside his windows. They were below RADAR elevation to avoid detection but that was still a ways down.,"Uh… are you sure, Command? At our elevation I'm pretty sure tha-"

"Confirmed, Raven. Agent Phoenix will handle her own landing zone," the radio cut him off.

The pilot turned his head to try and catch a glimpse of what was behind him through the small window in the metal wall that separated him from the rest of the vehicle, "Phoenix? Is that who's back there? Oh this I got to see."

In the rear of the helicopter, an agent in a white and blue battle suit was getting geared up. The suit was sleek in design, but was clearly modified with additional armor across the chest, shoulders, and a helmet with a built in breathing apparatus that covered the face.

"Remember, this isn't a training simulation Phoenix," the voice of Global Justice's leader, Doctor Director, came over the headset built into the agent's helmet.

"I know, Betty," Agent Phoenix replied in a dry almost snippy tone like she was being lectured by a mother.

"It's Director when you're on duty."

"Oh please. Like this counts as 'on-duty'. Break in, swipe the data, don't get caught. So not the drama." Phoenix strapped a harness around her and slid a handgun designed to fire tranquilizer darts into the side holster then snapped the strap over it to hold it in place.

"Don't get SEEN, Phoenix. The last thing we need is Gemini figuring out that we're closing in. It took a lot to just find this window. I know you're excited being back on the field, but keep it cool and perform within parameters," Betty's voice was dripping was stress and worry. Granted, the Director was sending a rookie agent on a top secret infiltration deep within enemy territory, but she was a 'rookie' only in the sense of GJ mission's completed. Not to mention top marks at the academy, ace-ing every scenario test, and of course all of the "on board features" as her Dad liked to say.

"So why is this place empty for 20 whole minutes anyway?" Phoenix glanced over to the last thing in her mission kit - Desert Eagle with .50 caliber rounds. Standard GJ equipment for missions dealing with Techs. She had used it hundreds of times on the range. Always had to use her right hand though, the kick was downright painful and even sprained her wrist once if she used her left. She reached out to pick up the gun, hesitating for a moment before forcing herself to take the firearm into her hand and slide it into the holster on her back side.

"It's not empty. It's just occupied. Some big gathering in the assembly area. Our mole didn't specify as to what, but it leaves the rest of the building open with minimal guard presence for us."

"Seems like it should be quick and easy. At least they left some to play with," Phoenix muttered with a hint of mischief in her voice. She slid the side door of the helicopter open and looked down at the target - a massive abandoned manufacturing plant, "Going in. Commence Operation Rebirth."

The radio crackled one final message as Phoenix slid off the helmet exposing her short red hair that tapered off around her chin line, the bangs slightly obscuring the bright green glow of her right eye but if you were close enough you could notice the indents of scar lines on her face to indicate where the implants and synthoskin were attached, "Good luck, Kim."

Kim Possible tossed the helmet onto the seat of the helicopter, "Don't need it when you're good." She then turned around with her back to the door and let herself fall off the side.

"Hooo-lee shit!" The pilot exclaimed as he watched the agent back dive off the vehicle, holding up a small smartphone that recorded the whole thing, "They are going to love this back at the motor pool."

Kim's red hair flew about in the air as she dived head first toward the ground. It had been years since she had felt this and she beamed with a grin at being able to experience it again. It was worth the year of Global Justice training to get to experience all this again. She spread her arms out and starting flipping through the air. A flash of yellow appeared in her glowing right eye, which from Kim's point of view appeared as a very clear "Elevation Warning" in the center of her field of vision.

The heads up display in her cybertronic eye was usually helpful with its vital stats readouts, target analysis, thermographic and low light vision, and a clock - but this time it was kind of being a buzzkill. She flexed the muscle under her eye slightly, sending a mental signal to dismiss the warning. She didn't need a warning. She could do anything.

On the ground, a pair of W.E.E. henchmen wearing heavy wool turtlenecks bearing the symbol 'Sigma' on the shoulders stood guard. Guard in a figurative sense. They were leaning up against the exterior wall of the factory, one on each side of a gateway. One was checking his phone and the other repeatedly throwing his knife into the ground.

"So what's the deal with this meeting?" the phone wielding guard asked.

The knife thrower picked his blade up from the dirt and dusted it off, "Ya got me. I heard the boss brought in some big shot merc to lend a hand. Big announcement. Team building, morale boosting or some shit."

"S'pose we didn't need our morale boosted," the other guard said as he pushed the screen on a device and a music video started playing.

"No, I'd say you two are pretty much the best," a third female voice spoke up.

The two guards slowly turned to find a young woman with red hair levitating off the ground by about thirty centimeters. She appeared to be suspended by a pair of glowing circles sticking out of her back.

"The hell?" The knife throwing guard uttered. The only response he received was a smile from the woman before she launched a kick to the side of his face, which crushed his head into the concrete wall, and rendering him unconscious.

As the woman kicked his partner, the other guard dropped his phone and reached for his gun. Looking down quickly at his belt to check which side he holstered it on, he finally grabbed it and raised the weapon to find an awaiting fist.

As the second goon fell, Kim dusted her hands off and deactivated the anti-grav engines causing the two circles to lose their glow and lower themselves into a pair of sockets on her back. As her feet descended to the ground she shook her head at her so-called 'opposition'. Maybe HenchCo was too busy with their new consumer products and military weapons divisions to bother with properly training programs these days.

Another flash in Kim's eye, as a scrolling message of text appeared along the bottom of her field of vision: [YOU TOOK OFF YOUR HELMET. DD IS GONNA BE MAAAAD.]

Kim frowned and responded using her communications package implant: [she can contact me via head radio. besides you know she hates it when non-gj peeps contact me during official missions.]

[OH DID YOU WANT TO HACK THE WEE SERVER YOURSELF? I CAN GO.]

Kim rolled her eyes and started scaling the wall of the factory towards a window, [snark does not suit you wade. were you able to scope a floor-plan?]

[EASILY. STILL SURPRISED YOU DONT ASK GJ DO THIS.]

Kim slid open the window and slinked into the long upper hallway of the factory's offices, she lifted her right arm and turned it to face her wrist as a small holographic projection of the floor plan sprang to life. A small red dot pulsed about 40 yards north east of her location several offices over, [youre my tech guy. still dont know why you dont want to sign on with gj]

[DONT THINK THEY NEED A WEB DESIGNER. BESIDES BIG BROTHER TYPES ALWAYS RUBBED ME THE WRONG WAY.]

Kim moved slowly through the halls, sliding her back against the wall and taking extra care to avoid making any unnecessary sounds. She could hear the noisy racket from somewhere below. Various hoots and hollers, a big booming voice announcing something over what sounded like a stack of massive blown out speakers. It was almost painful really. Kim almost felt bad for the people having to listen head on.

[big brother types? conspiracy nut much?]

[OH SO THEY DIDN'T INSTALL A FIRMWARE LOCK ON HALF OF YOUR ENHANCEMENTS WHEN YOU JOINED?]

As Kim turned the corner, she spotted a guard patrolling the halls. He was walking around with his weapon drawn, back straight, routinely checking his three, nine and six. Someone moderately competent at least. Kim wasn't leaving this one to chance. She quietly popped the button on the strap over her tranq gun and slid it out of its holster. Kim lined up the sights of the dart gun and aimed directly at the small area of exposed skin between the guard's black wool turtleneck and his helmet. Her vision filled with targeting reticules, calculations for aiming to get an optimal strike, and chances of success.

'Just like in training. It's just a tranq dart,' the young woman reminded herself. Taking a deep breath, Kim slowly squeezed the trigger. Despite her meditative preparations to fire the weapon at a real live person, she still flinched slightly as the gun fired the dart. However the aiming software built into her augmentations took effect and kept her hand straight and in-line with the established target. The dart plunged into the guard's neck and a second later he was unconscious on the floor. Kim let out a slow breath and smiled.

Kim grabbed the unconscious man and dragged him with her into the office that was marked on her map as the room with the terminal in it. She stuffed her new 'friend' in the corner on a chair only to have him slouch over. She pushed him back up, but he slouched over again. Kim bit her lip in thought for a moment then pushed him back one more time, this time leaning his head over the top of the chair to compensate. To complete the image, Kim found an empty can of beer next to the computer and put it in the unconscious guard's hand. Her masterpiece of deception was complete. Ron would have approved, Kim thought with a smile.

Kim turned her attention to the computer terminal. It was an older model, something from way before the Moscow Incident, but it still had the jacks she needed. She brushed back her hair from behind her ear to reveal a pair of small connecting cables sticking out from her synthetic skin. Grabbing one, she pulled out the small cord and attached it to the computer, [alright. your show wade.]

The terminals screen flashed and came to life as windows opened and closed at a rapid rate, command lines would spread like spider-webs across the colorful surface, and progress bars would quickly fill as data was transferred to Kim's on-board memory device. Blueprints of weapon designs, express trains, battle suits, and dozens of other experimental technologies flashed on screen. Kim knelt near the computer and waited patiently for her friend to finish his work when she noticed a blinking green phone icon in the corner of her vision, [you got this wade? betty's calling.]

[SURE THING KIM. DONT LET HER CHEW YOU OUT TO BAD.]

Kim shrugged with a smirk despite knowing that her hacker compatriot couldn't see her. She reached up and touched a small button near the data cables and pressed it -

"Why did you remove your helmet, Agent Phoenix? That is expressly forbidden by Safety Protocol 605.11 of the Global Justice SOP!" the voice felt like it was screeching into Kim's ear. She might have to ask her Dad to turn down the volume a notch the next time she visited Middlteton.

"Well, hello to you too, Doctor Director. Why yes, the data transfer is going fine," Kim replied sarcastically.

"How exactly is that being done, Phoenix, when Rogers is sitting right here waiting for you to connect to our servers to begin the hack?"

Kim gave an audible gulp, "I uh… utilized my own resources to… er… minimize risk of Global Justice involvement?"

"KIMBERLY!" Kim's cybertronic spine straightened at the sound of her commanding officer using her real name, "You did NOT use that criminal for an official mission, did you?"

Kim's breaths began getting heavy and her pulse quickened, "N-no!"

"The monitors show that you are lying to me, Kimberly."

"Well, okay, FINE. Yes, I asked for Wade's help. But he is not a criminal! The FBI was never able to find any evidence."

"He de-lete-ed the evidence, Phoenix. Your webmaster," Kim could hear the air quotes, "has been poking around Global Justice's systems for years. He is a risk even when we are not simply handing him the keys. Regardless of your past working relationship, Wade is not trustworthy in my eye. We will be discussing this on your return."

Kim rolled her eyes. Another lecture incoming, "Was their some other purpose to breaking radio silence, ma'am?"

Doctor Director's voice returned to its normal tone, "Yes. We've noticed an increase of satellite communication in the area since your time window opened. While we are still checking the signal, early analysis leads us to believe that the Sigma Cell is being contacted by Gemini directly. Your secondary objective is to find a concealed location to view and broadcast the meeting once the data transfer is complete."

"Sounds more entertaining than a copy & paste job at least. I'll got right on-"

"Alexei? Where are you, bratan?" Kim was interrupted by a man's voice with a thick Russian accent, "We have a possible situation on the top floor. Send all available to my location."

Kim gave a sharp inhale through her teeth, "Got to go, DD."

"It's Director when you ar-," Kim cut the radio call and opened another text communication with Wade, [We done?]

[16 SECONDS] was the response she received. Kim could already see the circles of light from the flashlight attachments on the guns of the guards flickering through the halls outside the doorway.

[10 SECONDS]

Kim's eyes darted around looking for some place to hide as she heard the footsteps of the guards approaching, "Alexei? This is his patrol area. Alexei!"

Some desks, a chair, the computer terminal, some small cabinets - Shit! Nothing. The steps got louder as they neared the door. Judging by the number of lights, there were four of them looking.

[5 SECONDS]

A guard turned the corner into the room with Kim. He was similarly geared to the others but wore what looked to be a paintball face mask. His eyes went wide at seeing the young woman hunched down next to the computer. He raised his gun, "Hey you-"

Kim grabbed the computer and threw it at the guard. The machine crashed into his face and sent him falling backward into the hallway. Kim dashed and did a flip through the air, her hands coming down over the man's face mask and driving his head into the ground with a crack. The HUD in Kim's eye registered the probable mortality rate at mere 36%, it was more likely a concussion.

She launched herself off the guard's head and continued the flip down the hallway, drawing her tranq gun on the second spring up through the air. While upside down and mid-air, Kim passed the second perpendicular hallway to find two more guards. She let the targeting software do its job and fire two quick shots in succession, nailing both guards in the jugular. There was no flinching this time. Pure adrenaline took care of that.

Finally, she landed on her feet and did a quick roll to the third and final perpendicular hallway to find the fourth guard turning the corner. He was obviously responding to the sound of the first guard but was only greeted with a fast uppercut to the jaw that left him flat on his ass and knocked out.

Kim dragged them back to the computer room and stacked them in the corner, [how was the data transfer wade?]

[BAD, KIM. YOU PULLED OUT A SECOND TOO EARLY. TRANSFER WAS ONLY 98% COMPLETE]

[still an A-grade job. thanks for the assist wade.] Kim smiled as she began to make her way through the upper floors of the factory toward the booming sound of the gathering further in.

The lower floor of the factory was packed with people. Many wore the same sigma-embroidered turtlenecks, but others donned lab coats, heavy armor, or W.E.E. uniforms. They were all standing in a massive open space in front of a massive stage that spanned the width of the whole factory floor where a man in a W.E.E. commander's uniform stood. Above the stage was an equally overly large screen with the leader of the W.E.E. - Gemini - displayed at a podium addressing the room, "And naturally, the Worldwide Evil Empire insurance plan will cover the PATCH and upgrade to the latest version at no cost to our loyal subordinates. Thus ensuring that each of you can-not's will become cybertronically enhanced can-do's. The process will begin with Task Force Alpha in Volgograd, and will procede down the line until the entirety of the Empire within the ENML is prepared for Phase Two. Which brings me to the actual reason for this call."

Kim slid up against a walled railing on the top floor that opened up to an exposed area overlook the factory floor where the meeting was happening. She inched around the edge until she found an opening in the walled part of the rail and then activated the broadcast back to headquarters using her cybertronic eye as a camera.

The camera focused on Gemini zoomed in close, his face now filling the gargantuan screen that was set up on the factory floor, "Task Force Sigma, YOU HAVE FAILED ME!" His voice grew so loud and angry that the foundations of the building shook slightly, "Your assigned task was due to be completed six months ago. Since then I have heard nothing but complaints about how the both the PATCH'ed and un-PATCH'ed masses have given you a hard time. Even after the update signal rendered them nothing more than mindless animals. I've provided you with weapons, improved guards, machinery to perform this task optimally but you still have failed to deliver. In four years, we are no closer to breaching Moscow. This is unacceptable and thus I have hired external help to keep you both safe enough to complete your task, and to ensure proper punishment in the event of failure. Commander! Introduce your new overlord." With that nervous whispers spread across the floor.

The middle-aged man with spiked back hair and a receding hair line in the commander's uniform took center stage. Kim hadn't recognized him at first since her focus was on Gemini, but she did now, "Frugal Lucre?"

"Well, is that not a great speech from our glorious leader? New implants are coming, we can finally start punching back at some of those GJ goons, am I right? Not to mention all those freaky feral techs that are wandering around the Russian country side, despoiling the property value, and increasing the price of goods and ser-," the crowd stared blankly, "You know what, never mind. Things are looking up for us. We got this guy here that's gonna take care of all our problems. Handl'em good. Please let me introduce - Mr. Kosch!"

The crowd starts clapping but it starts to slow as the echoing sounds of foot steps rang out across the hall. The noise was a deep slamming noise of metal on metal, followed by another, and another. Each one rang out and reverberated in the factory like the sound of a large beast stalking its prey. From behind the stage emerged what appeared to be a man. It was at least seven feet tall from Kim's estimate, covered in heavy metallic plating and thick rubber tubing. Its hands appeared to mechanical gauntlets with small gears and pistons powering their movement, at the end of each digit was a sharp claw-like blade. It's head was a metal gas mask, the eyes emitting a slight red glow and the re-breather apparatus slowly pumping air in and out of the facial portion of the helmet, on the rear of the helmet was a series of cables and cords that extended down the back like some kind of electronic dreadlocks.

As if the creature's appearance wasn't bad enough, the noises it made could make your blood run cold. A series of animalistic snarls, gurgling noises, and mechanical clicks were all that was being emitted from the nightmarish figure. Kim watched closely as her HUD's heart monitor speed up from the 'green' to the 'yellow' range. The small icon of the phone appeared again, but Kim didn't notice. Her eyes fixated on the 'thing' that just walked on the stage.

"Welcome Kosch to Task Force Sigma," Lucre said proudly as he extended his hand to shake, "I think you'll find that I run a firm but fair and fun operation. That's the Lucre Three F guaren-blugh?" the words never finished coming out of his mouth. Instead, a stream of blood starting dribbling out. Kosch had foregone the handshake and instead plunged its bladed hand into Frugal Lucre's stomach.

Kosch lowered its head and peered directly into Lucre's eyes, then came the voice. It was a barely a whisper but with a deep bass that seemed to rumble, "Problem taken care of." Kosch retracted his arm and Lucre's quickly turning pale body collapsed to the stage. The room was silent for only a moment before Gemini's howling laughter burst forth.

Kim had her hand over her mouth and eyes wide as a deer in headlights. Death was still something that she hadn't come to grips with seeing yet. While yes, she was technically present when Drakken and the others had died, she didn't actually see it happen. In fact, she had never seen anyone get killed with her own two eyes before. There was a distinct visceral difference between watching sand pour out of a training dummy you just shot full of holes, and watching a man bleed out on a stage.

Suddenly, Kim's HUD glitched for a second that sent everything in her sight into a blurry mess for a moment and caused a stinging sensation of an acute migraine spiking through her head. Before she had a chance to even wonder why that had happened, a voice spoke, "Phoenix. It's the Director. You didn't answer and this is crucial so we had to use our override to access you directly."

Kim slid back from the edge of the wall to give herself a second to catch her breath from the sudden shock of pain as Dr. Director continued, "That man on stage. Kosch. We've had dealings with him in the past. In the past two months, he has murdered no less than fifteen Global Justice agents and could be responsible for many more listed as missing. No one has ever SEEN him and reported back alive."

Kim's breathing became erratic. She knew what she was about to be asked. She was just praying that it wasn't the - "Phoenix… Kim. We need you to take him out." Kim clenched her teeth and lowered her head, mentally swearing about being asked to kill. Heroes don't kill. Heroes find solutions. Heroes can do any-

"Phoenix, that is an order."

Kim punched the ground quietly and murmured, "God damn it, Betty."

"That's Director. This isn't the junior leagues anymore, Phoenix. This isn't after school playtime. This is a terrorist cell. Those men will and have killed innocent people before. This is an order: Eliminate the target."

Kim drew the pistol from behind her back and held it in her hands. It was heavy. Heavier than the tranq gun, and way heavier than anything Wade had ever given her. She wrapped her hand around the grip, and turned around to the edge of the wall and took aim.

Her targeting software once again sprung into action and handled most of the work, calculating trajectories and distance. Kim instead focused on trying to keep her breathing steady. Within fractions of a second, the software had established the perfect kill shot for Kim. She took one last deep breath, closed her eyes to keep the hint of tears from escaping, and pulled the trigger.

The blast of the gun was deafening in the echoey chamber. The .50 caliber bullet ripped from the barrel and flew across the crowd below directly toward Kosch's head. Despite Kim using the augmented arm to pull the trigger the force still knocked her back on her rear. As the echo subsided the room went dead silent. Everyone stopped looking around to see where the shot came from and turned to Kosch.

Kim scrambled back to her feet and looked back out from her hiding spot only to have her jaw drop. Standing on the stage was Kosch, his hand outstretched, with a bullet half embedded in the palm of the gauntlet. The hulking creature's eyes were dead fixed on her position.

"An intruder? This far into the ENML? IMPOSSIBLE!" Gemini screamed from his screen.

Kosch let out a sickening snarl followed by a series of clicks, "Kiiiiim Possssssible."

Gemini glanced down from the screen at Kosch, "Deal with her." With that the screen went black, the room full of guards raised up their automatic rifles and starting spraying the upper area with bullets.

Kim scrambled backward down one of the halls as bullets shredded her cover, "D-director! I've been compromised. Need evac! Like, NOW."

A male voice responded, likely one of the bridge team back at headquarters, "Raven inbound, Phoenix. They can get you on the roof."

Kim nodded to herself, "Roof. Right." She began looking around for anything she could use to get upstairs. Her eyes ultimately finding a small glass window just above the masses firing at her, "I can do roof."

Kim climbed to her feet, took one more deep breath and began doing a series of flips that had made her a star back in high school. As soon as she reached the railing, she leapt up and spring-boarded off the railing, simultaneously activating her bubble shield on the battle armor. The bullets' kinetic energy was absorbed into the bubble causing the hunks of lead to harmless drop back to the ground.

Kosch watched as the Global Justice agent performed admirably. He followed her leap from the railing and spotted the small window. Snarling, the man-like beast hopped down from the stage and started positioning himself right beneath the window.

Soon as Kim's leap started to descend she activated her anti-grav boosters from her back and engaged the thrust, shooting her upward to the window. A flashing light in her HUD warned her 'Internal Batteries Low'. She pushed the thrust harder. She knew the next thing her tech would do would be to taper off the internal power going to the battle suit to help boost the thrusters and that meant no bubble shield. Kim crossed her arms in front of her head, as the bubble started failing and she burst through the glass to the awaiting Raven helicopter awaiting her above.

The Raven's side door slid open as Kim reached up and grabbed the ledge just as her HUD informed her that all internal reserves were drained and only necessary augmentations would be receiving power. She hoisted herself up as the pilot's voice came across the Raven's speakers, "You okay?" Kim just nodded and slammed her fist twice on the wall separating her from the pilot, "We'll getcha home, Phoe- THE HELL IS THAT?"

From below the shattered window, burst through part of the roof was Kosch. Not powered by any sort of jet, like something out of a nightmare the beast had simply leapt from the ground floor and through the roof with its claws extended and coming after Kim. The bestial roar sent chills down Kim's spine. She grabbed on to anything she could as the Raven swerved into evasive maneuvers to avoid the large dark figure.

Despite the moving target, Kosch was able to grab on to the edge of the side door and dig its fingers into the helicopter to hold on. Kim shouted, "SHUT THE DOOR!," and began slamming her heel down on Kosch's fingers to no avail. The Raven's side door slid shut, but got stuck on Kosch's fingers. Kim let loose a scream, charging up her battle suit's claw, that was normally used to deflect energy attacks, and ripped out the hunk of metal that Kosch had dug into. The metal and Kosch flew off and as the door slid shut, Kim could see the monster land feet first on the roof creating a large impact crater.

Kim collapsed on her back. Activated the claw had drawn a bit too much power from her. It would take time to recharge without any sort of external means. Luckily, she had plenty on the long flight back the HQ. She let her breathing slow, her vision go dark, and Agent Phoenix fell unconscious.

* * *

**Next Chapter: Headquarters**


	4. Headquarters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fan work. Kim Possible and all associated characters are the property of Walt Disney and Buena Vista Television.

Kim huddled in the corner of the helicopter. Her eyes dashed around the every edge, every surface. It was out there. It was coming. The sound of nails scratching against the metallic exterior of the vehicle pierced through her mind like high pitched screams of endless suffering. The noise echoed through the interior making it sound like it was everywhere. Kim clasped her hands on the side of her head, trying anything to desperately block it all out. Then it happened: a blade the size of a butcher's knife cleaved into the wall of the copter, followed by another and another until ten blades were punctured through the thick metal. A loud growl sounded out as the blades flexed and dug in only to pull back and rip out the side of the helicopter with them. Outside was nothing but the storming black abyss, and Kim could do nothing but stare out at the void.

Everyone had heard the expression, but Kim did not truly expect the void to stare back until a pair of massive red glowing eyes opened deep in the black. Kim's mouth opened to scream but nothing came out, as if the sound of the world had become muted in the presence of the hulking behemoth that lurked in the shadow. A clawed hand reached into the exposed copter and dragged Kim out into the nothing, gripping her tightly. Behind her she could feel the intense heat of the helicopter exploding. Time seemed to shift after that, like hours of her being pulled through the darkness being pressed into seconds. In the deepest heart of the black, she found the red eyes to be a constant presence. Never growing nor shrinking, only staring with a savage intensity as she was brought to what she could only assume was their owner.

Soon she found those hideous red eyes' master: a titan of metal and flesh emitting a gurgling sound from its throat. It pulled Kim close to its face, those red eyes scanning her - searching for something. The creature reached up and gripped her with both hands. She could feel the bladed nails piercing into her body yet there was no pain. Just the sensation of cold metal sliding against skin. The creature's mouth unfurled through a complicated contraption of flapping layers of flesh bound in a mechanical jaw and the beast let loose a simple, innocent and yet wholly terrifying DING!

Kim's eyes shot open wide as the monster's hand began moving deeper inside her, piercing her fully as the blades that made up the creature's claws penetrated through her back and out her stomach and chest. Kim's mouth opened to scream but her jaw wouldn't move. The words "FIRMWARE LOCK ACTIVE" flash in brilliant yellow letters around the vast black space around her and the beast. She turned to look eye to eye with the creature. Her shining green glassy orbs wide with horror. Then she felt it. The beast pulling its hands apart, her mechanic and biological pieces being drawn and quartered. She once again tried to scream but the yellow letters flashed in the dark once again. The creature let loose a bellowing chortle made of repetitive DINGs over and over as Kim saw her mechanical spine now swinging between her constantly growing apart legs, the metal skull frame being ripped out from beneath the synthetic skin on her face, her torso twisting and splitting at the-

Kim's eyes snapped open. Her vision was filled with a set of holographic words in green floating in front of her face: 'Recharge Complete!' A cold sweat was dripping and sliding across her body. Where was she? Why did -

"Ow!" Kim winced as she tried to sit up only to have a short heavy cable attached to the back of her neck yank her back down. The Dock. Of course. An advanced recharging station for her cybertronic implants and prosthetics that doubled as Kim's bed. Her father had constructed it to help make sure she'd be at full power at the start of each day. The Tweebs had named it after the recharge stand for their MP3 players. Kim reached behind her head and twisted the locking mechanism on the cerebral cable and then pulled it out of the socket with a loud pop noise. The detach triggered the handful of other cable attached to various body parts to do the same. Kim sat up from the bed and stretched, still trying to shake off the nightmare. She was clad in a tank top and boy shorts - not exactly her first choice for sleepwear, nor standard issue, in a Global Justice dormitory but an unfortunate necessity of having to link her body parts to the Dock at night.

Kim tried to lift herself up from the Dock but wobbled a bit on her two feet. She heard a cry from further down the row of beds, "Don't push yourself! I'm coming!" The quick patter of feet through the dormitory quickly revealed a young woman with short spiked hair dyed yellow and black in the design of a radioactive warning symbol. She was about 4'10" with olive skin and excited brown eyes. The woman wore a standard global justice uniform but with the words 'FIRE IT UP' written in black marker up and down the sleeves, "We've all been taking turns standing watch till you woke up. Well, all of Unit 10 at least. We were taking bets on who'd be on watch when you woke up! I just won twenty bucks and a bag of jelly beans!"

Kim stared at the woman, her mouth agape. It was hard for Kim to believe that this woman was actually two years her senior when she behaved more like a high school freshman with a sugar addiction, "Tint, How long was I out?" Tint wasn't her actual name. It wasn't even her assigned code name. It's just what they all decided to call her when the entire unit discovered their demolitions expert couldn't pronounce TNT.

"A week. Give or take a few hours. Like a babe too. Not even a gurgle, snore or snort out yer mouth. Makes me envy Trapdoor," Tint gestured to the adjacent bunk to Kim's dock that she had plopped down on, "The gear heads down in the lab wager it something about yer internal batteries being drained too quick or some such. It's all French to me."

"Greek," Kim spoke up, shaking her head trying to gather some measure of alertness.

"Huh?"

"The phrase is 'It's all greek to me'," Kim looked up at the other woman with a smirk. She had stood up and was starting to put on her regular 'around the base' clothes of a Global Justice workout uniform: track pants & jacket with a white undershirt, each in GJ colors and insignias.

Tint rolled her eyes and shrugged, "But I speak Greek, Phee. Don't know a lick of French. Ol' Du-or-Die tried to teach me once, but I couldn't make heads or tails of that masculine and feminine and what not."

Kim paused for a moment as she tossed on the track jacket, "Doesn't Greek have those as well?"

Tint laughed with a snort, "Naw. Greek is all Alpha! Sigma! Delta! Omega!" The demolitions expert shouted each letter's name in a big announcer voice and gesturing in different directions as if she were giving a presentation.

Kim just shook her head with a smile. Tint always reminded her of a weird cross between Monique and… Him. That thought dampened the smile some, "Well my battery may be finally back up but I am starving. Care to join me in the caf?"

Tint hopped up to her feet, "Thought you would never ask. Rest of the team is there too. Two Eyes will be happy to know his 'Widdle sis' is up and alive."

The two girls laughed and wandered out into the Global Justice Headquarters main facility. The structure was a set of 6 domed 'pods' connected by intertwining tube shaped corridors, all of which was suspended nearly fifty thousand feet above the Atlantic Ocean. From this installment, Global Justice sent orders out to the hundreds of smaller, more localized GJ bases across the world. Only a select few were welcome to walk these halls, the elite members of Special Tasks Unit 10 of which Kim was unprecedentedly invited to join after completing her recruit training just a couple of short months ago.

As Tint and Kim walked the corridor towards the General Living pod that housed the cafeteria and other down time activities, Kim couldn't help but notice that amount of stares and whispers by the other Global Justice recruits and members around the hallway. Kim leaned over to Tint, "Is there something on my face? What's with everyone?"

"Yer kiddin' right, Phee? You squared toe-to-toe with Kosch the Killer in the square circle and came back alive and in one piece to tell the tale. Hell, I should be asking for your autograph too," Tint shot Kim a toothy grin.

Kim tried to return the smile meekly but her thoughts were occupied with flashes of her nightmare and barely scraped by escape from 'Kosch The Killer.' It may have a week for everyone else to gossip about the whole encounter was still fresh in Kim's mind. Those claws scraping at the metal, making a horrific screeching noise. That mask with the cold red glowing eyes. The noises it made when-

Kim slammed into another person. A large African-American man with curly hair and an eye patch strapped across his scar-ridden face, "Hey, watch where you're going there, Little one."

"Oi! Heya dere Two Eye!" Tint chimed in with a snarky smile plastered across her mug.

The large man's warm expression dulled in the face of a joke told about two hundred times too many, "Tint. It's Three Eye. My code name is Agent Three Eye."

Tint nodded with her eyes closed in a mock sagely fashion, "Aye, so the roster says. But ya lost one."

Kim giggled slightly at the exchange. In the short time she had known her unit, they had proven to be the closest thing to family she had since coming to Global Justice. They helped her remember the good times. "So THREE Eye, we were just headed to get grab something to eat in the cafeteria. Would you like to join?" Kim asked.

Three Eye shook his head, "No can do. I've got a training session scheduled in ten. Going for the gold on the Weenie Fort simulation. But Phoenix, I'd keep your eyes open. Word has it that the Director was looking to talk to you ASAP when you were up. She didn't look to happy about it either."

Tint tapped her chin, "Oooh yea. She did mention something about 'As soon as Phoenix pulls her cybertronic behind out of the ashes, get her to my office immediately.' But I didn't think she meant like… right away."

Hands slowly rose up and covered the faces of Kim and Three Eye. The dance of shaming continued with slight but slow shake of the head and an exasperated sigh from the pair. Kim looked up at Three Eye, "Well then. I should go and grab something to eat before she fi-"

"KIMBERLY POSSIBLE! TO MY OFFICE! NOW!" The shrill voice of a very upset Doctor Director rang out across the loudspeakers in the base.

Three Eye whistled, "No code name? She must be upset about something. Good luck, kid."

Tint gently patted Kim's shoulder, "I'll save ya some grub."

Kim gave an audible gulp as she turned around and made her way to the Central Pod.

The Central Pod was a continuous hive of activity with agents manning the computer stations and constantly monitoring the globe for field reports, back up to agents, and monitoring for what they called "Class 3 or higher" criminal activity, in other words anything that the local police wouldn't be able to handle. Kim actually learned upon joining up and seeing some of her own files that for a while she was listed as a Class 3 case for 'unapproved vigilante activities.' Naturally, something that was straightened out over time and interaction with Global Justice but it just goes to show that a simple misunderstanding can make you a super-villain for a day.

Kim stepped into the circular office of Doctor Director, the walls lined with monitors bearing the Global Justice logo with the notable exception of the one behind the Director's desk which had the unmistakable image of the most recent addition to the World's Wealthiest People list: Jack Hench.

"Now, Global Justice will have to sign an exclusivity contract for all clean up, maintenance and reconstruction tasks with HenchClean for no less than a five year period," Jack said in his best salesman's pitch.

"That's highway robbery, Jack, and you know it. We'll sign a six month contract now, and then move to a year-to-year pending the quality of your company's work," Doctor Director announced from her desk. Chair swiveled away from Kim at the entrance.

"That is outrageous! It's unheard of! It's preposterous! But just for you, sweetheart, I'll have to add a 15% surcharge and you got yourself a deal."

Doctor Director growled at the utterance of the him calling her 'sweetheart' but quickly regained her composure, "Fine. Have the paperwork sent here and I'll have the signed contract back to you in the morning."

Jack Hench's smile beamed across the screen, "Excellent! It's always nice to be helping the forces of justice help the world!"

"I'm sure," the Director said sarcastically as the screen switched back to the Global Justice logo. Kim used the opportunity to give a slight but audible cough. The chair swivel around to reveal the eyepatch wearing, short brunette haired, blue jumpsuit wearing commander of world-wide Global Justice operations: Doctor Bethany Director, "Kimberly."

Kim sheepishly stepped forward, "You wanted to see me, Dr. Director?"

"Explain yourself."

Kim gulped, "Ma'am?"

Doctor Director stood up with her hands firmly planted on her desk hard enough that she may have left indents in the metal slab. The head of Global Justice's voice echoed in the chamber with a frightening calm, "Not one single moment of your mission was even close to protocol. You left without safety gear, you put yourself on full display of the enemy with no attempt of stealth, you handed crucial and sensitive data to a known criminal hacker forcing us to access your internal storage while you were recovering to get the files."

Kim's lip twitched. They accessed her 'internal storage'? She was not a machine. She had the right to some privacy, didn't she? What else did they dig around in?

Doctor Director continued, "And worst of all - you hesitated to execute a direct order from me. Normally, these actions alone would merit immediate expulsion from Global Justice. As well as possible criminal charges if we felt there was no need to silence you in a more permanent fashion."

Kim's eyes were wide light a deer staring down an oncoming vehicle that showed no signs of slowing. Her internal HUD was going wild with warnings about her mental and physical state as she slipped into panic mode. Even worse was the small biometric scan in her HUD that was showing that Betty was giving no signs of lying about what she was saying.

"However, Kim, you are not normal. You were helping Global Justice back when you were still a kid. You have foiled countless A, B and C Rated villains before even donning the uniform. Even after trying repeatedly to get you adjusted to our protocols and procedures by 'coincidentally' having you shadow our best agent, I suppose I can't expect you to simply fall in line and replace him."

The eye-patched woman's glare turned to solid ice, "Even if the decision to enlist you cost me said best agent."

Kim shifted her jaw as she had to actively bite her tongue to keep silent. The room felt ten degrees colder suddenly.

"You get one more chance, Kimberly."

Kim stopped her teeth gnashing and blinked. Her eyes vacantly fixed on the woman at the desk across from her. Doctor Director eased back into her seat with a smug grin. Was this some kind of mind game? Was she trying to 'break' Kim?

"The W.E.E. is after something in Moscow. You are going to find it and get it first. Expect a full briefing tomorrow after you have some recovery time and keep your hacker friend out of this. Dismissed."

Kim turned to walk out, doing her best to keep her legs from giving out due to all the shaking. She couldn't tell if the quaking was anger or fear anymore. All she knew was she needed out of this room. She summoned all her nerve and walked out the sliding door when she heard Doctor Director's voice once more.

"Oh and Kim?" the voice of her commanding officer grasped her by the heart. It was almost a warm tone. After all that bitter cold rage disguised as a cool, calm talk-down, there's warmth in Betty's voice. The emotional whiplash stunned Kim and she froze.

"Good job on not dying to that bastard. We'll get his head next time."

The door slid shut behind Kim and the young woman let out a staggered breath. Kim let herself lean back against the wall to take the pressure off her one good leg. She had many encounters with Doctor Bethany Director over the years, but never did she feel as threatened by a friend or enemy then she did right now.

Kim's breath slowed as she it slowly came crashing down that this wasn't going to be like becoming the hero once again. She was a soldier now.

With that fresh in mind, Kim decided that if she had a single day of reprieve she was going to need some food… and something hard to drink.

* * *

**Next Chapter: Connection**


	5. Connection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fan work. Kim Possible and all associated characters are the property of Walt Disney and Buena Vista Television.

Trapdoor and Tint walked around the corner of the R&R pod in the Global Justice headquarters. Trapdoor was a short, pale man only about an inch or two above Tint's height, his face was patchy and unshaven and he wore a black beanie and sunglasses along with his standard Global Justice attire, "Maybe she just wants to be left alone, Tint?"

Tint rolled her eyes, "Oh yea, Gopher Boy. That's a brilliant idea. Leave 'er be with the keys to the liquor cabinet and hope fer the best."

Trapdoor twiddled his fingers in a rapid motion, "Do we even know if she can get intoxicated? Perhaps her cybertronic implants filter out the alcohol allowing her to imbibe the foul tasting liquor for the abhorrent flavor alone. Similar feats have been tested and supposedly are reaching release candidate status for the PATCH."

Suddenly a bottle flew out of a door ahead of them and shattered against the opposite wall, "GET THE HELL OUT FOUR EYESH! I WANNA BE ALONE!"

Tint put her hands on her hips and grinned at Trapdoor, "Well, there ya have it. Our girl is pickled." Trapdoor frowned and motioned for Tint to go ahead.

Inside the lounge, Three Eyes was dodging projectiles flung by the cybertronically enhanced young woman, "You know I can't leave you alone, Kim. That's just asking for GJ security to come down here and you know none of us want that."

Another bottle flew across the room at fastball speeds right towards Three Eyes' crotch. He quickly grabbed a tray from a nearby table and blocked the bottle as it shattered against the plastic with a spectacular crash and a splash of the remaining liquid scattering across the surface. Three Eyes gave a sigh of relief, "That would have been-" but he never got the chance to finish his sentence as a secondary bottle whacked him square in the forehead and knocked him on his rear.

Trapdoor's voice came from behind Three Eyes, "Impressive. Even when inebriated, tactical thinking is still prioritizing new strategies and attack patterns. I can see why the Director boosted her straight to us out of boot. Only Agent Du was capable of-" A bottle shattered next to the door frame where Trapdoor stood, "Did I say something incorrect?"

The only response the three elite agents were able to make out from behind the bar was some slurred mention of 'Agent Doo Doo.'

"HA! We need to get her drunk more often!" Tint said with a resounding laugh, "A grown ass woman calling someone doo doo. That's way more entertaining than callin' 'im a tight arse like everyone else 'round here."

Three Eyes pulled himself to his feet, a large welt on his forehead where the bottle had made impact, "Not the time, Tint. We gotta calm her down and get her someplace safe before security shows up and makes all our lives hell. Trap, you think you can get over to her?"

Trapdoor stepped a bit further into the room and removed his glasses. His eyes scanned every wall, nook and cranny in the area. In his mind, he began to create tables of percentages to what standardized layouts the wiring and ductwork behind the stone would use. An overhead vent, three rows of fluorescent lighting, water pipes below going to a sink - then his eyes locked on a small duct on the right wall, "I will need a suitable distraction. It seems mentioning the former commander will elicit an extreme enough response to provide a window."

Tint and Three Eyes exchanged a quick glance and simultaneously gave an audible gulp. Trapdoor pulled his toolkit out from the elaborate belt he wore and began to fiddle with one of the floor panels behind an upturned table. He brought out a small pen like tool and clicked the small button on its side to produce a laser edged scalpel like tool that he started cutting open the panel with.

Three Eyes leaned over slightly and whispered, "Is this a good idea? You know how she doesn't like it when he bring up Will. This might makes things wo-"

"NO THREE EYES. I DON'T AGREE THAT THIS WOULD NEVER HAPPEN IF WILL WAS STILL HERE." Tint's voice blasted through the room. Three Eyes glanced over at Tint with his one good - and now wide - eye to find her grinning like a Cheshire Cat, "Better start dancin', Two Eyes."

A rain of implements at blinding speeds descended on the two Global Justice agents - glasses, bottles, bowls, silverware, chairs - just about anything that you could reasonably expect to find around a place. Tint cackled in glee as she hopped around, flipping up and through the air to nimbly dodge the projectiles. She would kick off of walls and tables as the objects whirled past her and into the walls. Three Eyes took a different approach. He grabbed a stool and broke two of the legs off of it. Wielding the legs like a pair of clubs, he swung, blocked and shattered objects coming his way. When he could manage, he would attempt to loop the stool leg into some hole or opening on an object to catch it and let it slide harmlessly to the floor.

The bout went on for solid minutes with Tint and Three Eyes trying desperately to keep up the act in the onslaught of objects being thrown and the sounds of angry sobbing coming from the other side of the bar. When the first choked cry came out, Three Eyes almost dropped his makeshift clubs to go and try to comfort the distressed red head. But a quick volley of shot glasses flying across the room like a squadron of fighter jets quickly put him back on task.

Finally, Trapdoor was able to work his way around the wiring and ducts to pop out of the floor from a panel adjacent to Kim. He peeked out to see the young woman with tears pouring down her face, snot bubbling from her nose, her cheeks and eyes were red and puffy. Trapdoor went back to his tool-belt and fiddled with it until he found a small device and slid it out of the hole with a whisper of, "My apologies, Agent Phoenix," before he slid back down. The device beeped a soft tune and then a flash of electromagnetic pulses erupted from the small box, rendering the cybertronic half of Kim's body completely useless.

As soon as the pulse dissipated, Trapdoor was back out of the hole again with a small medical kit that he opened and procured a breathing mask and a small bottle of oxygen and he began to place it on Kim's face. The shock of losing all of her cybertronic systems, not even able to switch to standby mode, was sure to take a toll on Kim's breathing and other bodily functions, Trapdoor tried to ensure her comfort as best as possible and then started to try to manually force a restart on her locked up body.

In the time it took Kim to regain her bodily autonomy, Trapdoor, Three Eyes and Tint had moved her to a comfy sofa in a lounge down the hall. The team tried to justify their actions to the understandably upset Kim, "And I did not say anything about Agent Du. That was Tint. Trying to distract you so we could get you to calm down. Do you understand?"

"It's still a low blow," Kim uttered. Her head was leaning on some pillows and an ice pack across her forehead, "Especially after Betty's bitching about losing Will because of me too."

Tint frowned, "Oooooooh, is that what all this is about? The Director was givin' ya more shit about Du-or-Die." Kim nodded while squeezing the ice pack slightly to allow the cold liquid to drip on her skin.

"I do not understand." Trapdoor uttered. The smaller man had occupied himself with bundling all his tools and supplies back into their respective pockets along his outfit and bag.

"Betty blames Kim fer Will leavin'," Tint stated.

"I AM the reason that Will left," Kim responded.

Trapdoor shook his head, "An inaccurate assessment. Agent Du held your skill in the upmost regard."

Three Eye scratched his head, "I'm with my companion on this one. I don't see how you could be held responsible for Will's actions."

Kim sighed, "It started when Betty wanted me to shadow Will. I was outside her office, but even I could hear the yelling about it. Will was furious that I was there. I'd never even seen him show an ounce of emotion before that point. He was always so collected. But there he was, screaming at the top of his lungs in anger - at his commanding officer no less."

* * *

**LOCATION:** Global Justice Headquarters, Doctor Director's Office.

**TIME:** March 22nd, 2009. 1000 Hours. ~ 6 Months Ago.

"A TECH? Have you lost your mind, Director?" Will Du screamed. The sound piercing the thick doors of Doctor Betty Director. Kim sat meekly on the waiting bench outside and shook slightly at the noise. She allowed her curiosity to take hold and activated some of the enhanced listening software built in to her cranial implants.

"Kim Possible came at your own highest recommendation, Will." Doctor Director stated, "Initial assessments show that she is equally capable if not more so than before her injury."

"That is NOT the point. The point is that you are allowing a 'teched up freak' into Global Justice. Worse yet, you want ME to supervise her training? What am I supposed to think about that other than disgust and offense?!" The anger in Will's voice grew.

"Regardless of your personal squabbles with the decision, Agent Du, this is an order." The Director's voice seem to become more cold as Will's anger escalated.

"Well if my own personal beliefs are going to be so rudely thrown back in my face after everything I've done for this organization, perhaps it's time I STOPPED taking orders!"

The doors to the office flung open and cracked in the walls with a thunderous sound. Agent Will Du, red in the face and teeth grinding, stormed out and shot a dirty glare at Kim Possible before walking back down into the main base.

* * *

**LOCATION:** Global Justice Headquaters.

**DATE:** Present Time.

"That evening word spread across the training barracks that Will had just vanished. Not even the security teams could tell where he had gone off to." Kim explained as tears filled her eyes.

Trapdoor nodded with his eyes closed as he recollected the events, "First time in Global Justice history an agent was able to successfully go AWOL."

Kim gave a sniffle and nodded, "And all because he didn't want to work with a teched up freak like me."

The three other members of Special Task Force 10 exchanged glances before Three Eyes spoke up, "That's not true, little one. Will left because of his own baggage."

"Teched. Up. Freak." Kim announced, her voice became colder and colder with each word, "That's what he called me. I heard him."

"I know. I heard you quote him. Just like I heard him quote the same exact words from the Director." Three Eyes muttered sympathetically. Kim rose slightly to look at Three Eyes directly, "Will wasn't calling you a Teched Up Freak. Not directly. He was throwing the Director's words back in the her face."

Three Eyes' face grew dark as he clenched his large fists, "What I am about to say does not leave this room. It was entrusted to me in secret, and it stands to cause quite a stir among all of GJ if it should be found out."

Tint, Trapdoor and Kim all nodded slowly, their eyes wide. Kim had slid up on to her arms and was now propped up and leaning on the sofa's arm.

Three Eyes gave a loud sigh, "Back before Kim joined Global Justice, back when HenchCo announced the PATCH as a solution to the Moscow Incident, Will and I were stationed in what was about to be declared the European No Man's Land in a defensive outfit. Will outperformed any expectation in that hell hole of a war zone. Even pulled a Tech off of me before it finished eating my face once. Only lost an eye. But it wasn't just his normal excellence pushing him through this. Will was studying the techs, both before and after the PATCH. Their ins and outs, structural integrity, mechanical workings - everything. Not just for how to beat them. He admired them. Beyond their feral or criminal minds, he saw them as the perfection of physical prowess. So when we were ultimately recalled back when the No Man's Land was declared and formed, Will submitted a proposal to the Director to volunteer as a human test subject for a Global Justice implementation of the PATCH."

"Oh." The word left Kim's mouth like a sigh as the pieces fell into place in her head. She continued to listen as she let her eyes begin searching the databases she was connected to in her HUD.

"The Director told Will in a private meeting that she would not authorize the proposal, she would NEVER authorize something like that and that she - and Will quoted this to me directly - would never allow some teched up freak into an organization like Global Justice."

Tint scratched her head, "But the Director is the one who personally invited Kim."

Trapdoor shrugged, "Perhaps she reconsidered her position in the meantime. After all, the Moscow Incident, the formation of the ENML and the PATCH were all recent developments that drastically changed and reshaped the way Global Justice had to respond to incidents."

Three Eyes nodded, "And I told Will just the same. Let things simmer a bit before raising a ruckus. But the Director stood firm. Then when Kim showed up, that seemed to be the last straw for Will Du. He told the Director off and then vanished."

"And then Kosch first appeared one month later."

Three Eye, Trapdoor and Tint all slowly turned their heads back up to Kim who had moved into a sitting position on the couch. Her eyes flickering with information that she could only see.

"Agent Phoenix, You can't possibly be insinuating that-" Trapdoor was immediately cut off.

"The timelines match. A full conversion with the PATCH would take a few weeks. Then Kosch's first targets? All Global Justice agents. So the motive would match as well. Not to mention a pre-existing knowledge of our database and indexing techniques would go a long way in not being able to identify him." Kim started mumbling off other notes herself as her squad mates looked back and forth.

"Ya think Kosch the Killer is Will Du?" Tint said flabbergasted.

Kim stopped and looked at her team, "Yes. Don't you?"

Trapdoor shook his head violently, "Absolutely not. Agent Du was a prime example of law enforcement personnel. The examples you have stated do fit, but the margin for error is so large that to state that only Will Du could be Kosch the Kill would require an unjustifiable ignorance of other possibilities."

Three Eyes saw Kim starting to frown, "Aw, don't worry Little One. It was an… interesting idea. But I agree with Trapdoor. Will just wasn't that kind of guy."

Kim's frown solidified into a stone like face that didn't change expression for the rest of the day. That night, long after Kim's chat with her squad-mates and the effects of the heavy alcohol abuse parsed its way through her system, she found herself in the research library of the Global Justice headquarters. There she sat in front of a computer monitor for hours on end in the dark room.

The screen flashed with bright letters "KOSCH THE KILLER - NEW MENACE IN THE WAR FOR GLOBAL JUSTICE?" A message sent out after the first appearance of Kosch to all GJ agents. There wasn't much to it that Kim didn't already know, but there was a mention that several interrogated W.E.E. agents divulged that they had no knowledge of who or what Kosch was. Kim jotted down a note on a nearby piece of paper - 'No WEEnie Connection at first. Recent development?'

The pieces of paper also held an array of other notes, including comparisons of heights between theorized heights of Kosch and documented heights of Will Du, as well as dates of documented Kosch attacks and possible correlations.

"There's got to be some kind of smoking gun here," Kim muttered to herself. She flipped to a piece of grainy recorded footage from a security camera of a figure speculated to be Kosch attacking an agent. Kim watched it intently. This wasn't the brutal leaping slashing that she had witnessed in her quick escape but a full on hand-to-hand brawl. Kosch's moves were calculated, and powerful, and… way too similar to the agents to be a coincidence. Kim's stoic frown broke for the first time since talking to Three Eyes.

Global Justice had a unique form of martial training that was used exclusively by them. Not tied to any one form of martial art or school of combat, but rather a mixture of several techniques that were almost proprietary to the organization. Kim remembered how after the Lorwardian Invasion at graduation, that Global Justice asked Ron again to 'shower them with some Ron-shine' as he put it and let them study some of his moves. He had joked that it just solidified in his mind that he would never make it in Global Justice but they did pay him for his time. They went on a nice date after that at a posh Italian place in Upperton. Then they went back to his place and…

Kim's nostalgia was cut short as she saw what appeared to be a small blue man sitting on the table looking down at her notes. She gave a quick sniff and wiped the tears from her eye before she tried to swat at the strange figure but her hand simply passed through.

"Please don't. I may not have a physical form, but I do find that quite rude."

The voice seemed to surround Kim, as if it were coming from inside her head. It was a calm voice, definitively male, and certainly seemed to fit for the small blue humanoid in front of her, "What are you?"

The figure turned around, revealing its luminescent white eyes. Kim studied the figure for a moment. While it was humanoid, it was not clothed nor was it nude. It just seemed to be a humanoid shape, like a silhouette or a shadow. The figured stepped off the table and floated up to be in the center of Kim's vision.

"I am an artificial intelligence. You may call me DataByte."

Kim's eyes were wide and her neck craned back as if her head were fleeing backward at the presence of the small blue man, "W-what?"

* * *

****

Next Chapter: Secrets


	6. Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fan work. Kim Possible and all associated characters are the property of Walt Disney and Buena Vista Television.

"DataByte. It is the name I have chosen to describe this form."

Kim blinked her wide eyes a few times in disbelief. Her lip curled up at one side in surprise. She had scooted as far back as she could in the wood chair that the research library used for all its desks. The small, luminescent blue humanoid figure stood on the desk and stared at her expression with mild irritation.

"I am an artificial intelligence currently utilizing your cerebral implants to project my avatar onto your visual cortex."

Kim's face remained frozen in its bewildered expression but her head nodded up and down to show some manner of understanding for the small figure.

"Oh come now Agent Possible. I cannot be the strangest thing you have witnessed."

Kim's expression broke, "You know my name?"

The small blue figure simply gave a shrug in response, "Technically, I am in your head at the moment. I have access to all your records and data stored in the cerebral implant."

"Hey! Don't you-"

"Not that I would intrude on your privacy. Merely being honest with our current situation."

Kim sighed with relief and re-positioned herself in her chair, "Well that's some relief. Not that I could really do anything about it if you were lying I suppose."

DataByte floated up into the air from its spot on the desk, "No, but such actions hardly create the foundation of teamwork."

"And since when were we a team?" Kim said and crossed her arms.

DataByte gestured to the notepad and computer monitor, "We appear to be interested in similar investigations. It would only seem to be prudent to work together."

"But I don't even know who you are. Other than you being an AI." Kim said as she began to type again.

DataByte spoke again with an introductory tone, "I am DataByte, an artificial intelligence tha-"

"You said that already." Kim said with a roll of her eyes.

"I do not understand what you mean then. That is who I am."

Kim pushed the enter key, sending the computer running through a comparison of the documented footage of Kosch and the training manuals for the Global Justice Martial Combat training courses, "Well how about 'Where did you come from' or 'Do you work for Global Justice' as starters?"

DataByte hovered in front of the monitor viewing the comparison calculations roll by, "Neither of those would be valid responses to who I am but I will do my best to explain. I was created as a digital imprint of a human mind. While not as omnipotent as a traditional artificial intelligence or as capable of expression, I do not require nearly as many resources to maintain sentience allowing me to be far more mobile. As for your second question: No, I am not part of Global Justice. I was simply in their system and noticed your searches overlapping with mine."

Kim gave an audible grunt. She wasn't completely convinced that this thing was on the up and up. Hell, if she weren't half machine herself, she would have serious questions about this 'artificial intelligence' idea, "You know that tampering with Global Justice equipment is a serious crime."

DataByte's image gave a shrug, "Is it? Global Justice is a non-governmental peace keeping organization based out of international waters. What and whose law am I breaking? Even if I was how would they indict me when I have no existing legal presence and do not exist beyond being data."

"What about the mind you were copied from?"

"Lab records show that the test subject passed away during the imprinting process leaving my existence somewhat incomplete. I have all of the subject's personality and skills but not of the memories. I often use my idle cycles to try to reverse engineer how some of my more eclectic interests came into being in my former life."

Kim placed her hand behind her head and sheepishly looked at the ground, "Oh. I uh… am… sorry?"

DataByte's avatar shook its head, "There is no need. I am merely stating the facts of the matter. Though your sympathetic gestures are appreciated."

Kim bit her lip slightly. She was unsure of what to say, "So uh… do you come here often? I mean, you're investigating too right? So you would use the um…" In a merciful gesture to diffuse the awkwardness, the computer gave a chime to let her know that the comparison was complete. She eagerly leaned forward to check the screen but her expression rapidly turned sour when the screen flashed in large yellow text: '17% MATCH'

"AAAARGH!" Kim grunted as she stood up and started pacing around the room, "I was so sure that was it."

"It is still within the realm of possibilities that it is." DataByte's voiced rang in her ear as if the small hologram looking figure was sitting on her shoulder. Kim turned back to see the figure still sitting on the desk looking at the monitor.

"What do you mean?"

DataByte split into two separate copies of himself, one which remained at the monitor and another that floated towards her, "The video clip we were using as a comparison is only 53 seconds and 12 frames long. Slightly less than one minute. That is hardly enough time to demonstrate the full range of the 132 different forms of combat that Global Justice uses as a baseline for their combat techniques. In fact, if we were to eliminate all possibilities beyond the close range hand-to-hand techniques, remove the techniques that are least likely to be used by our subject, the comparison spikes to 63%. Demonstrating moves from Judo, Tai Shing Pek Kwar, and various street fighting techniques."

"Thanks. You're just as helpful as Wade." A slight smile graced Kim's lips as she took a few deep breaths to help calm down.

"Wade?" DataByte tilted its head slightly, "Is that a software package? Or an AI?"

Kim chuckled, "No. Wade's human. Though you'd swear he was a machine considering some of the things he can do."

Kim gave a yawn and checked her internal clock display, "Oh damn. It's 4am. Sorry DB, I gotta split."

"I suppose your physical matter must recharge."

"Don't sound so snooty. At least my 'physical matter' can enjoy Bueno Nacho from time to time," Kim said as she packed up her remaining belongings and made a copy of the data of her recent session to her internal memory.

"From what I understand of the dietary contents of the average Bueno Nacho meal, I'm not sure that's an advantage." DataByte said while crossing his arms.

Kim stood up and walked toward the door, "Well, someone's jelling."

* * *

**LOCATION:** Global Justice Commissary.

**TIME:** September 12th, 2009. 0810 hours.

Tint watched as Kim's eyes repeatedly drooped closed and then snapped back open over and over as the cereal and milk on her spoon repeatedly dripped back into the bowl only for Kim to scoop it back out in her brief moments of conscious clarity.

"You'd think being half machine would keep you awake," Tint said with a sly smirk.

Kim just gently shook her head and spoke drowsily, "Brain's still mostly fleshy bits. A memory drive installed back here," she gestured to the back of her head, just above the neck, "But the rest is still meat."

Kim's ears were then pierced with unbelievably chipper voice of Trapdoor as he joined Tint and Kim, "In fact, Agent Phoenix's natural biology still makes up 68% of her being. Barely putting her above the 25% implementation needed to qualify as a Class-1 biomechanical threat."

Kim's glazed eyes slowly lowered to her cereal.

"Oh, gee, is that all Trap? Did you hear that Kim, you're only a class ONE threat to the world," Tint sarcastically drolled before she smacked the top of Trapdoor's head, "Thanks Trap. Your bedside manner is - as always - completely ass."

"I was merely suggesting that our dear Agent Phoenix is far removed from the uh," Trapdoor gave a cough, "Teched up freaks I believe was how it was phrased."

Tint rolled her eyes, "It's called 'tact', Trap. Maybe you should try treating people the way you treat locks!"

"With a precise implement inserted directly into their vital regions?"

"With subtlety, you little- !"

"MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE."

The sudden blaring voice of Doctor Director over the loudspeakers ushered a silence over the cafeteria.

"THERE WILL BE A MISSION BRIEFING AT 0900. ALL FIELD AND SUPPORT AGENTS WILL REPORT TO THE MISSION ROOM FLOOR."

Kim and Tint exchange glances. Trapdoor started poking at his food nervously. The mood of the entire cafeteria had changed. Instead of a cacophony of noise and chatter, now hushed mutterings mixed with the occasional clang of silverware filled the area.

"I don't remember the last time we got an all agent mission briefing." Tint said, shoving eggs in her mouth as she talked.

Trapdoor shivered, "It was the Moscow Incident. I would hypothesize that Agent Three-Eyes is quite perturbed by the announcement."

Kim tilted her head, "Why would...?"

"Moscow's where he lost his eye. Now where were you last night, Sleepyhead?" Tint spat out in rapid succession, eggs soaring out from her mouth with each spoken word.

Trapdoor and Kim stared at Tint for a moment as their brains adjusted for the whiplash of the non-sequitur topic shift. Kim gave a small cough and bit into another spoonful of soggy cereal soaked to the point of having the texture of wet paper, "I was uh… in the library. Alone. Doing research."

Tint raised an eyebrow, "Kosch?"

Kim nodded softly, spoon still in her mouth. She slid the piece of metal out, "I analyzed the data from brief security camera footage and it came up just over a sixty percent match with Global Justice combat techniques."

"Oh K," Tint frowned, "Still thinking it's Du-ey?"

Trapdoor shook his head, "Even with a 60% combat style match, it still ignores the psychological contradictions with everything Agent Du is or was."

"Look DB seemed pretty convinced by the numbers and…"

Tint interrupted, a sudden surge of intrigue in her voice, "Who is DB?"

Kim went wide eyed for a second and scrambled to collect her thoughts, "It's uh… one of Wade's aliases."

Kim gripped the sides of her head with her hands in a futile attempt to ward of a headache, "Look it doesn't matter. The point is Kosch doesn't even seem capable of anything beyond animalistic instinct and basic speech. Maybe it's not Will, but whoever Kosch was I think it's pretty clear that he isn't them anymore."

Tint and Trapdoor looked at each other for a moment, frowns growing on their faces. Kim knew that look. That look of disappointment, disbelief, and doubt. She'd seen it many times since. Tint forced a grin, "Well Kim… that's er… a good theory."

Kim didn't need to hear anymore. She tossed her spoon in the bowl, grabbed the tray and walked away from the table, "I'll see you two at the briefing."

Trapdoor looked over at Tint, "Should we tell the director?"

Tint shook her head, "Nah. We're watching 'er like we're s'posed ta. She ain't done nothing wrong yet."

Trapdoor frowned and bit into his toast.

* * *

**LOCATION:** Global Justice Mission Operations Center

**TIME:** September 12th, 2009. 0900 hours.

The Mission Room was normally a spacious paragon of efficiency with the only occupied areas being the terminals utilized by the support agents and the so-called commander's deck where Doctor Director would oversee missions she deemed worthy of oversight. Currently the Mission room was standing room only with barely enough room to walk into as every agent in Global Justice HQ was trying to pack into it. Kim had found herself a spot along the back wall next to Three-Eyes who was clearly coming to the briefing after a morning workout judging by the sweat on his skin and the copious amount of anti-odor chemicals that lingered in the air around him.

Kim always felt a bit better standing with Three-Eyes at briefings. He had something of a comforting paternal feeling about him. Almost as if he were the defacto dad of the squad. She smiled at him as she cracked open a highly caffeinated soda she grabbed on the way there.

"Rough night, kid?" Three-Eyes said with a smirk.

"Just long. Couldn't sleep. So I hung out in the library. Good place to get sleepy," Kim took a swig from the can.

"Your old boyfriend teach you that?" Three-Eyes grinned.

Kim coughed hard, spitting up some soda, "What?!"

Three-Eyes dropped the smile and his eyes opened up in shock, "Oh! Sorry. I didn't mean any offense. I just remember hearing stories about you and him when I was in boot around here years ago. Learning the Ron Factor and what not. He seemed like a goofball."

Kim wiped the rest of the soda off of her mouth with her sleeve, "Yea. Sorry. Still a sore subject. But he was a lovable goofball. I miss him."

Three-Eyes put his hand on Kim's shoulder and gave it a little squeeze, "Sorry again, kid. I'll make a note not to bring that up on a whim again."

Kim gave a small, short smile before swigging her soda again.

Suddenly, the room went quiet as Doctor Director walked out on the Commander's deck, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a crisis-level scenario on hand. We have deciphered the data liberated from the Worldwide Evil Empire acquired by our own newest member of the elite special task force ten, Kim Possible."

There was a momentary congratulatory applause. Despite the complete reaming that Kim received for the mission before, it was a warming gesture that brought a smile to her face and a slight blush to her cheeks from embarrassment.

"The data revealed a sinister plot being hatched on two fronts. One in the heart of the European No Man's Land and the other directed at the rest of the world. It appears our old friend Gemini is on the verge of perfecting a means to enact mass mind control over every human being implanted with the HenchCo PATCH. Since the PATCH's commercial release, usage outside of the Tech's in the ENML has risen to dangerous distribution levels. We're talking about iPod numbers here, people."

The screens around the room lit up with numbers, graphs, charts, and maps displaying the sales of the HenchCo PATCH globally. Kim looked them over and while a good bit of the statistics displayed, one thing was quite clear to her: It was way easier to find someone with the PATCH than someone without one.

"We've already been in contact with Jack Hench and shared the data with him, he has assured us that his R&D team will be working round the clock to get the security hole plugged in time to go out with the newest software package being delivered on his new wireless global software distribution system. That way we can make sure that any PATCH user within range of a wireless signal or in satellite range will receive the update."

Kim felt Three-Eye nudge her and she looked up, "Betcha you're glad you ain't got one of those in your head, eh?"

Kim grinned, "My father has higher standards that using third party HenchCo parts for his princess."

"Naturally, that plan is our safety net. Our primary objective will be to stop W.E.E. from obtaining the final component they need to complete this technology. Apparently, Gemini has discovered something of a cybertronic Rosetta Stone that he is working tireless to retrieve. Due to the data being incomplete, we don't know what this device is but we do know it's approximate location: 55.75° North, 37.61° East."

Kim felt the room go dead silent. She turned and looked at Three-Eyes whose dark skin had gone positively pale. Kim looked around frantically to find many of the senior agents had a similar problem. Kim's eyes were drawn back to Doctor Director for answers.

"That's right ladies and gentlemen." Doctor Director announced in a stiff but foreboding tone, "We're going back to Moscow."

* * *

**Next Chapter: Monsters**


	7. Monsters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fan work. Kim Possible and all associated characters are the property of Walt Disney and Buena Vista Television.

**LOCATION:** Poland, 100 miles from the ENML Wall.

**TIME:** September 14th, 2009. 0500 hours.

A fleet of black helicopters glide above the European countryside. A legion of Global Justices best descending on the lawless wastes to stop an evil madman from taking control of the world. That's what they will say. What the stories won't speak off was the terrified Global Justice agents quietly saying their prayers on the way, the agents who would vomit from anxiety, and those who lost sleep in fear of the terrors that lie in wait.

For Agent Phoenix of the Special Taskforce number ten, the trip was spent preparing not to face horror but how to deal with them. In her hands, a simple pistol. She had it sitting in the palms of her hands as she felt the weight of it, the heft of the weapon as it bounced in her hands. If there was one thing Kim Possible never did, it was kill people. She always preferred to stay on the right side of the law but now Agent Phoenix was the law, and being the law sometimes had the unintended consequences of having to pull the trigger, both metaphorically and literally.

Across from Kim was Trapdoor and Three-Eyes, pouring over the layout of Moscow from satellite imaging of the region. Three-Eyes was sweating bullets, the first time Kim had ever seen him scared of something. She imagined it would like her having to return to the Mad Zap's Electronics Warehouse in Lowerton for a mission. Only worse because for Three-Eyes the terror is still there. More like a festering wound than a scar.

Tint on the other hand had elected to find her own coping mechanism for the mission. She was sleeping on a pile of parachutes.

Kim turned her eyes back to the gun. A tool to kill. It just felt wrong to even be touching one. She slid her fingers across the weapon, feeling every ridge of the cool metal. She had known from the moment she signed on with Global Justice that one day she'd have to do this. Take a weapon in hand and fire it at another person. It just wasn't something she ever really wanted to do. After all, everyone was someone to someone else. The person she killed might be another person's Ron.

The very thought caused her to squeeze her eyes shut. Ron. What would he think of this? Of her doing this? She really didn't know. Ron always supported her decision. Ron was a pragmatist. Maybe Ron would be able to justify the use of lethal force against another living thing. In some ways, Ron was much more capable than Kim Possible.

Kim paused. Why did she just think of herself in third person like that? She holstered the gun, satisfied with the new distraction of her own mental state. Was she going crazy? Disassociating herself from a past life? It wasn't out of the realm of possibilities. Vivian had mentioned it as a possible side effect of the semi-autonomous program implementation to control the cybertronic limbs and systems. That having essentially another consciousness controlling what tantamounts to another body stuck on to yours could make you think that you're a new person entirely. But she still thinks of herself as Kim… but not Kim Possible?

Kim bit her lip gently as she took a deep breath and her eyes went wide. Not Kim Possible. Kim Possible™. The brand identity of the teen superhero. Not the person, but the persona. But why? And what does that mean?

Her train of thought was interrupted by a flashing red light above her head as the cabin lights of the helicopter went dark. Three-Eyes and Trapdoor folded up their map and started grabbing their equipment. "Phoenix, wake Tint will ya. We're passing the border," Three-Eyes said.

Kim nodded and moved over to the parachute pile where she nudged the punk rocker looking demolitionist, "Operation is commencing soon."

Tint didn't open her eyes. Instead she took her hand and patted Kim's face, "Yer not Mister Grumpy. Dat means I got five more minutes easy." Kim's lips curled into a pouty frown of someone who has been told they're too old to order from a kid's menu. She knew she didn't command the same authoritarian weight as Three-Eyes or even Trapdoor but it was still a bit miffed to be disregarded. Kim opened up a small canteen of water she had strapped to her belt and poured a small splash of icy water into Tint's ear.

The explosives expert bolted upright, detonator in hand and breathing erratically. Tint's eyes finally found Kim's, "I coulda blown ya up for that."

"You'd actually have to rig something up first," Kim said with a smirk.

Tint gazed back at the detonator and pushed the button a few times, "Oh yea. Instinct is all I s'pose."

"Your instinct will be the death of us one of these days. Now huddle up, it's game plan time," Three-Eyes announced. He set down a small device on the ground and pushed a button which brought up a holographic display of Moscow. "Welcome back to hell. Current readings show a total of 15 million Techs in the city, with a possibility of another 5 million that have suppressed, latent, or internal-only tech. On top of that, they've erected a massive perimeter wall around the city that has no entrances or exits. Once you're in, you're in."

Tint gave a whistle.

"The only known ways into the city are above and below. Intel indicates below is how the W.E.E. is planning on getting in. Building some sort of railway transport that can skid through the tunnels and blown tracks. If our intel is correct, then they should be on their way already. Our objective is to beat them to the punch and secure what they came to steal."

Three-Eyes tapped another button on the device and the view zooms in on the city with a ring of illuminated red dots around the edges of the map and one in the center, "General Infantry will be coordinated by Task Forces one through nine around the perimeter, securing exit routes and drawing attention away from the center of the city. We will be doing an air drop directly into the heart of the place and then begin making our way to the objective. Trap?"

Trapdoor stood up, "The objective appears stored in a large warehouse in the bombed out region of the city. One of a few structures that survived the conflict a few years ago intact. However that means there should be plenty of rubble of mask our approach."

/And for the enemy to ambush you./

Kim's heart skipped a beat. The voice sounded synthetic and modulated like it was using some cheap text-to-speech software. Her eyes darted about. Only her team was there and none of them were reacting like they heard it. Kim immediately sent a message out, [wade are you messing with some new chat tech?]

/Your message won't reach out. The ENML is full of dead zone of signals. Do not panic, Kim Possible. I merely decided to join you after our discussion last night./

[...DB?]

/Correct. I am loaded into your storage and found a way to emulate voice functionality by retooling your communications package./

[Look, I appreciate the company. But I'm in the middle of-]

"KIM!" Three-Eyes shouted. Kim looked up to find all three of her teammates staring at her, "We need you focused, kid."

Kim shook her head, "Sorry. Software glitch."

"Agent Phoenix will carry out the frontal assault and provide cover support while Agent Clarity and I excavate the tunnels," Trapdoor finished.

"That means having to use your hand cannon there, kid. Just remember: They ain't people anymore. They are just teched up things. No different than shooting a bottle or a punching a VCR."

Kim felt the fingers on her cybertronic hand give a twitch, "Right. Things."

/Agent Three-Eyes never struck me as a man to persecute as such. Though given his record, I can not blame him. Three consecutives duties following the Moscow Incident. Five injuries. Was finally pulled off duty when he lost his eye./

[I'm not a thing.]

/Of course not. Or else he wouldn't be telling you that. He clearly views you as a separate group from the citizens of Moscow. The Director on the other hand refers to you as an It on no less than 12 times in her reports on you./

[You find that in your snooping?]

/Research. It is important to know all details about a mission before departing. I just have better access than most. Hence why I know that this plan will certainly fail./

[How so?]

/Time. Your compatriots tactic is safe but slow. The WEE will reach the target 6 minutes, 32 seconds faster than you. Enough time to set up defenses for transport./

Kim's eyes scanned the holographic map. The bombed out cityscape was problematic to say the least. It was slow moving over rocky terrain, not to mention dealing with any ambushes or assaults from terrorists mixed in the civilian population. Ground was definitely going to be slower than going under… or over!

"Sir!" Kim spoke up, drawing the eyes of the other members of the team, "I think we may be overlooking a strategic opportunity."

Three-Eyes raised the eyebrow over his good eye, "What would that be, kid?"

Kim jetted her thumb towards her back, "I have my boost jets. I can go ahead and scout out the area in a fraction of the time."

Trapdoors eyes darted about the map and occasionally at Kim. He made grunting noises under his breath like he was arguing with himself, "No. No. No. Aerial surveillance can be carried out by short range drone or helicopter pilots. Using an agent poses too high of a risk of being sighted or disturbing the local techs."

"Not to mention the lack of backup bumps it from risky to straight up insane. No go, kid." Three-Eyes stated in a firm and cold tone. His 'this is the final word on it' voice as Kim had come to know it.

/Their over emphasis on safety is charming, but ultimately will cost you the mission./

[And this is my last chance.]

/Seems you have some thinking to do, Miss Possible. The mission or your orders?/

"The ETA to drop is 15 minutes. Get whatever gear you need set and ready to go," Three-Eyes barked. Tint and Trap both gave a firm salute while Kim just solemnly nodded in confirmation.

Kim maneuvered back to her corner of the helicopter and began to pocket and stow her gear. Some flares, a laser lockpick, some emergency water and med patches. Finally, of course, the behemoth hand cannon that ends lives. Kim's natural hand shook slightly as she picked it up out of the case. This would be so much easier if Ron were still here. She could just do her thing and Ron would have her back. There was never any confusion of chances or orders, just two friends doing their save the world thing. Then again, Ron would probably have played it safe and followed orders. He wasn't the type to risk things. If they had just gone with his idea they would have just had a nice date night and he would still be alive and well. Instead, she made him follow orders and look what happened.

That last though shook Kim. It shook her deep. Following orders is what got Ron killed. Ron always just tried to do his own thing. His Ron Factor. A level of instinct and improvisation that even Global Justice couldn't successfully emulate. But she could. After all, the Ron Factor was just like her 'Kim Sense'. It always just worked out. It would work out this time too.

"Uh… Kimmy? Kimster? Red?"

Kim turned her eyes to the side first and then slowly allowed her head to follow. She saw a very concerned Tint edging her way slowly towards her.

"Kim. Could you maybe take yer finger OFF the trigger? At least until mission time?"

Kim gave Tint a confused look and then glanced back to her hands. Her hand was tightly gripping her gun with the finger on the trigger as if ready to fire. Kim let out a gasp and slowly pulled her finger away from the weapon. The redheaded agent set the gun back down without letting her eyes leave it, afraid that it would find its way back into her grip.

"Are ya okay, Kimmy?" Tint inquired.

/So you've come to a decision then?/

"Yes," Kim said with a icy chill in her tone.

* * *

**LOCATION:** Moscow, European No Man's Land (ENML)

**TIME:** September 14th, 2009. 0730 hours.

The approach to Moscow was a turbulent one. Cold winds rocked the helicopters around the gray skies as the metallic birds climbed in elevation above the city. In the years following the Moscow Incident, Global Justice and many other military or paramilitary forces around the world had learned that any attempt to pass over the city at a low altitude was simply leaving yourself open to attack from the Techs that had developed long range attack capabilities. As such, Global Justice implemented strict high altitude drop protocols for all Tech related engagements and Moscow was about as Tech related as you could get.

A cloud of figures flew from the helicopters toward the ground, dozens of Global Justice special forces swooping in. From below in the crowded streets, Techs of all shapes, sizes and ages would look up and see for the second time in their lives an invading force coming at them like a large black boot from the sky. Screams out terror were let loose in the city below accompanied by a metallic screeching as though the shouts were being broadcast from an old worn out speaker.

The GJ troops pulled their chutes just late enough that they could safely hit the ground. Kim had no such concerns, instead using her boost jets in short bursts that allowed her land with a safe - for a cyborg - landing that left a sizable crack in the asphalt below her.

As soon as she touched the ground, Kim heard an audible gasp and the clattering of trash cans nearby. A grinding metallic sounding voice cried out, "KOSCH! SPASI NAS!" Kim pivoted on her toe with lightning reflexes to turn toward the voice and snapped into a fighting stance. In her sights, she found a pair of techs: one was a woman who had a series of metallic looking tubes pouring forth from what looked to once have been her mouth and a series of shiny black boils across her face that upon closer inspection appeared to be camera lenses. The other was a small child, gender unidentifiable, whose limbs had been replaced with pneumatic machine arms attached to wheels at the end, a pair of small hands dangled from the bloated torso and the child's head looked to be a small tv satellite dish embedded in flesh with a whimpering pair of lips below. As frightening as the sight was to Kim, it only took a fraction of second to tell that they exponentially more frightened of her. Her motioned her head to the side and lowered her fist. The pair of Techs took her signal and scattered through a hole in a nearby building.

/Your teammates will be arriving in approximately 34.26 seconds./

[I know how to read the mission itinerary, DB.]

/Just making myself useful./

[If you want to be useful, run my scanning software and give me an idea of how many techs we have in the area. That kid said Kosch's name. I don't want to be caught off guard.]

/Technically, she was crying "Kosch! Save us!" According to the briefing you were zoned out for, they revere Kosch the Killer as a local hero. Their very own Kim Possible./

[Stow the sarcasm and get me my scan.]

Three-Eyes was the first to touch down on the ground, followed only moments by Trapdoor and Tint. They all had their weapons drawn - Tint and Trap favoring pistols while Three-Eyes carried an assault rifle.

/Detecting 34 augmented individuals in a 100 foot radius. Nine of them are closing in on your position./

Kim turned to Three-Eyes, "We got incoming."

Three-Eyes nodded and gestured behind Kim, "There should be an alley up this road. That's where we'll set up a perimeter and slice into the tunnels."

Kim nodded, "Alright. Go. I'll cover the rear."

With her teammates heading off down the street toward the alley, Kim followed them by backing up and keeping her eyes on the road.

/Above you. Rooftop. 3 o'clock./

Kim took a fighting stance with her fists raised and ready as a trio of augmented men leapt over the rooftop and down into the streets. They were large and almost beast like in their movements with reinforced body plates and pneumatically powered limbs. A fist the size of Kim's head launched toward her face but Kim bent over backwards to dodge it. She reached up with her legs to grab onto the arm and with a quick twist ripped the limb from its socket causing sparks and oil to pour forth from the stump. Kim landed on the ground with in the detached arm in hand and a grin on her face. She was in her element once more. Fighting bad guys.

The arm-less let out a terrifying scream, something between the screech of a bird and metal being dragged across a chalkboard. If anything was going to draw attention to them, that would. The two other augmented men charged at Kim. Quickly making mental notes that the two men were definitely top heavy with smaller - albeit mechanical - legs propelling their larger upper torsos.

/There are more coming, Kim. This course of action will only delay you further./

There won't be a delay, Kim thought to herself, I can do anything.

Kim launched herself into a slide underneath the left man and ripped out the hydraulic lines that powered his legs causing him to collapse forward into a stone wall, creating a large hole with his head.

I can do ANYTHING.

The red-haired Global Justice officer then leapt onto the back of the remaining attacker and dug the heel of her artificial leg directly into the man's spine. The loud snap was apparent and the man quickly dropped to the ground paralyzed.

/Six more incoming. An additional ten within range of scans shown approaching this direction./

"Kim, we've almost got the tunnel open. Regroup!" Three-Eyes voice blared over her helmet comm.

/Our timetable cannot be postponed any longer, Kim./

"Kim! Phoenix! Come on! That is an order!"

Kim gritted her teeth. No time. No time to decide. Time for instinct.

Agent Kim Possible took a knee.

[DB. I need you to activate all radio interference protocols in the ECM kit and reroute all other power to the boosters.]

/I don't understa-/

[You don't need to. Do it or mute yourself.]

The interface that filled the edges of Kim's vision sprang to life as DataByte managed her systems for her, coordinating with the semi-autonomous AI that maintained and ran her systems and let her bypass a few safeties.

Time seemed to slow down for the red-haired heroine as she waited her opportune moment: The moment those six targets crested the rooftops and into the alley. That singular moment was all that Kim focused on at the moment. All that Kim lived for at that second. Her one chance.

Six behemoth sized mechanized nightmares - things between man, machine and beast that stood the height of a pickup truck and covered in blades, weapons, and razor sharp teeth - flew over the edge of the roof. Kim launched herself in the air with a burst from her boosters. Within the blink of an eye, she was gone from the ground and now parallel with the rooftops that the techs had leapt over. She snapped out her hand and a small grappling hook launched from her wrist and digging into the metallic exoskeleton of the farthest tech in the row. Kim gave a powerful yank and begun to spin with the reinforced cable wrapping around her arm. One behemoth enemy collided with another and another into a swinging wrecking ball that Kim then proceeded to slam into the buildings behind them. The structures collapsed and blocked off the alley to the rest of her team.

"Calling Three-Eyes. This is Phoenix. Ran into trouble with the locals. Rendezvous path has been blocked. Will have to meet up with you at the destination." Kim stated with a stern serious tone that masked the smirk that she wore across her face.

The response was immediate: "Damnit Phoenix. That was not the plan. If the path is blocked, I order you to-"

The radio signal was cut short. Did the rest of Task Force Ten run into trouble?

/I hope you don't mind. I jammed your comm to expedite our plan./

[I appreciate it but a heads up next time. What's the internal charge at?]

/65%. The Booster is quite a drain it would seem. I will focus on energy management./

[Please and thank you.]

Kim heard the scraping and shuffling of metal on stone growing closer. She quickly climbed the collapsed wall and on to the rooftops. From there she saw the city in a very different light. Pillars of smoke and fire rising throughout, screams and gunfire echoing across the bombed out cityscape, and massive factory sized building marked by the Global Justice logo.

She shook her head. There were enemies following and a timetable to keep. She dug her feet into the shingles of the roof and began to dash.

[DB, can you get the kinetic blasts from the gloves to a minimum power drain while still maintaining stun effectiveness?]

/I can try. However, I will be unable to maintain reserves for any future jump boosts and any use of the stealth or self-repair features will be off the table. Did you not bring that gun?/

Hearing the scraping behind her, Kim pivoted on her heel and held up her gloved hand to fire a small blast of kinetic energy at the tech that had been closing on her. It caused the robotic woman with four mechanical legs to fly backwards and seize up on the ground.

[Oh I did. But I'm not going to use it on innocent people.]

/You have an interesting definition of the word./

Kim rolled her eyes and started running again. At her current pace, she would beat the WEE by a good few minutes. Plenty of time to investigate.

[Speaking of interesting, you've been digging the GJ files. Any clue what those buildings over there are for?]

/You mean the processing centers? After the Moscow Incident, Global Justice tried to parse out the 'Good Techs' from the 'Dangerous Techs' and contain them in separate camps within the city. After a few accidents of a dubious nature that ended up with 14 techs dead and two Global Justice agents, there was an uprising in both camps and Global Justice declared the city a lost cause, advocating for the No Man's Land solution/

Kim's running slowed to a trot, her face shifted to a pondering look of horror. Her dashed back and forth as she mentally put what DataByte had just 'said' together.

[They were internment camps.]

/Records showed that such terminology was intentionally avoided to not invoke problematic viewpoints. But functionally, yes./

Kim felt her stomach turn. Was this the true face of Global Justice? Will Du had always made it seem so squeaky clean when she was younger. Then again, everything seemed more simplistic back then. They never had to deal with politics, or guns, or… death.

/Kim! On your 7!/

DataByte flashed her entire HUD red just to make sure she noticed. Kim immediately heard the grinding noise coming from behind her. She bent over backwards and grabbed the rooftop with her hands. The tech launching up at her looked something like a large black tiger, with fangs made from drill bits and claws of broken CDs. A tangled mess of cords - some sparking with live bio-electricity - flowed off of its back.

Kim lifted herself off the ground and swung her legs up and forward to bring her boot directly into the tech's face creating a cracking sound that was similar to when a shoe steps a plastic fork. She then lifted her cybertronic arm and sent a kinetic blast at her opponent's chest sending it flying back with a gurgling cry of, "Kosch ub'yet tebya!"

Kim's legs dropped down as she rotated her arm. When her legs touched the roof, she began to dash once more through the city toward the warehouse target.

/He said 'Kosch will kil-/

[Yeah, I gathered the intent. I'm not surprised. These people must hate Global Justice.]

/Hate is probably an insufficient word. They were victims of a technological accident driven into a mindless rage. And we declared war on them. Average citizens turned into monsters. Not even soldiers. It was disgusting./

[Sounds like you had first hand experience.]

/Possible. Without memories I can't be sure but my - ahem - 'emotional' reaction sure seems intact on the issue./

Kim's reached the warehouse in a matter of minutes, not helped by the couple of other techs that threw themselves at her without abandon. Not even caring about themselves but just hurling their bodies covered in sharp implements at her like they tools to be disposed of. Mentally, she scolded herself for even bringing the gun that seemed to weigh more and more on her thigh holster with each step in the ruined city. She had nothing but sympathy for these people. They weren't all monsters like Kosch. They just wanted to live their lives and now no longer had that chance. Kim understood that level of depression. Not too long ago, she was in a similar position.

Without hesitating, Kim dived through an upper window of the warehouse and grabbed on to one of the metal girders that formed the upper skeleton of the seemingly abandoned building. She gave the place a once over but saw no visible threats. Or much of anything really.

/Scan shows one technologically altered being./

[Just one?] She could handle one. She handled more than one on the way here. Unles… [Is it Kosch?]

/Unlikely. While the scans show a similar density of cybertronic infestation, the individual appears less mobile than anything we have encountered./

[What does less mobile mean?]

/It appears to be partially fused with an electric wheelchair./

Kim blinked. That WAS something different. The Hephaestus Project that her father designed was for offensive and defensive purposes. The nanomachines integrating into a wheelchair didn't seem like much of an improvement when the option to build brand new legs was right there.

Kim let herself drop from the rafters and rolled on the ground. She walked toward the back side of the warehouse and pushed the large metallic doors aside with a noisy scraping sound. The smell of electric smoke filled her nose as her sight adjusted to the brightly lit but smoke filled room. Her eyes went wide and she let out a horrendous cough as she tried to speak and exhale the pungent smell all at once, "WHAT THE HELL?!"

Sitting in a fifteen foot tall metallic rig was the massive, broken and very much malformed by the cybertronic nanomachines Little Diablo. Not just any Little Diablo however, but the Ultimate Diablo that Kim and Ron had faced off with on that fateful night. It had been set up as the epicenter of some sort of giant computerized machine complete with blinking lights and meters that all appeared to be somewhat positive. However, what positive meant in this situation was anyone's guess.

"A mOSt iMprESSiVe PIECE oF wOrk, No?" A shrill mechanical voice came from Kim's right. Sitting in the center of the electric smoke that was profusely pouring from a circuit board on a table was a man in a wheelchair. Well, Kim assumed it was a man. It was more of a humanoid shape of cords, cables, and computer parts. Everything from the figure's computer tower of a head to the cables that replace muscle sinew down the arms and into the hands looked to be some manner of absorbed electronics. Given the figures level of disheveled and random assortment of enhancements, he hadn't been installed with the PATCH. Which means it was possible that he'd been here working all along.

"Where did it come from?" Kim asked, trying to maintain a level of professionalism.

"ThE MOSCOW InCiDEnT."

"It appeared during the incident?"

"It WAS tHe InCiDeNT." The shrill voiced figure cackled in a manner that sounded frighteningly similar to a broken and dying hard drive, "IT iS tHe SOurcE oF tHe TeChnO-EvOluTiONary ViRUS."

/That is the first I've heard of it being called a virus./

[It would explain the rapid spread though.]

Kim straightened her back and tried to take an intimidating and heroic pose, "I assume it is the nanites infect and reproduce using cybertronic self-perpetuating systems."

The technologically-blighted man wheeled his chair out from behind the desk revealing a missing leg that had dangling cords connected to various devices like a webcam or a DVD player that rested on the electric wheelchair, "i sEe YOu HaVe JAmES' inTellECT."

Kim stiffened. This time it had nothing to do with heroism, "You know my father?"

Again the broken hard drive clicking laughter sprang forth from the machine head, "WhO iN sCienCE dOESn'T KnOW tHE DISGRACED DocTor JaMes TimOTHy PoSSible?" The wheelchair bound figure then raised its hand. Kim could see a red blinking light as the flashing spilled across on the shining plastic and metallic body parts. The increasingly worrying tech's chair scooted across the ground toward the Ultimate Diablo, "AnD I KNow YOU, KIm PosSible."

"Hold it! I'm with Global Justice. I am declaring that weapon seized under the..." Kim unconsciously wavered her hand at her side.

"NO, KiM PossIblE. ThIS 'WeaPoN' is En ROUtE to ItS nEW oWneRS."

/Kim Possible. We have a problem. Multiple incoming./

[The underground train, right?]

"We already know about the train. We've got agents ready to intercept. You and that thing aren't going anywhere."

/Not the train. It is coming from above. Multiple signatures. Helicopters. Not Global Justice./

That damnable cackling echoed in the old warehouse once more, "ThE TRAIN WaS thE DiStrActIon. A HASTILY ThRoWn TogeTHer PLoT TO OccUPy GLobAL JusTice."

[Get the short wave radio back, DB.]

/Of course./

Static noise filled Kim's internal comm, "This is Raven! There's way too many! Where did they come from? WEE everywhere!"

/Oh no./

Kim's mind raced, she clenched her fists, it was all a trap? A trap to get that monstrous thing? No. She wouldn't let that happen. Not again.

"YoU SEe nOw, KiM PosSiBLe? EvEN ThIS ConVERsaTiOn WaS a dIstrACtion tIL My BODYGUaRd gOt hEre."

"B-bodyguard?" Kim sputtered. No, it couldn't be.

/Heart rate rising into yellow range. Please calm down, Kim Possible./

"YoU HAvE MeT BEFoRe, I tHINk."

/Kim?/

"I fiNallY fOUNd a WAY to BEAT yoU. YoU tHoughT You WERE All ThAT. BuT YoU. ArE. NOT."

A gunshot fired.

A .50 caliber bullet sprayed the electronic entrails of the wheelchair bound tech - Doctor Drew "Drakken" Lipsky - across the metallic rig for the Ultimate Diablo and the warehouse floor.

A smoking desert eagle sat firmly grasped in the hand of a shaking, wide eyed, Kimberly Ann Possible. Tears welled up in her eyes as she bit her lip hard enough to bleed.

A second later, a mere moment of time that to Kim seemed like an eternity to examine and face what she had just done, Kim dropped the gun to the floor. She collapsed to her knees and she screamed. She screamed loud and hard to the point where she could feel her throat burn raw. She screamed until she no longer had enough air or energy to even kneel upright and fell to the side. And just when she thought she was ready to pass out, when all the screaming had taken its toll on her and she had nothing left. That's when the roof of the warehouse shattered open.

That's when the hooks came down and latched on to the Ultimate Diablo.

That's when the giant steel boots and behemoth frame of a shadow leapt down from the sky and towered off Kim Possible.

Then it a guttural growl of a voice accentuated with those strange clicks and rebreather pumps, Kosch the Deathless spoke: "Kim Possible. You were singing my song."

* * *

**_Next Chapter: Revelations_ **


	8. Revelations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fan work. Kim Possible and all associated characters are the property of Walt Disney and Buena Vista Television.

It was only a matter of moments for the building to be peppered with four to five inch thick fist shaped indents as Kosch began an unyielding assault on Kim. The young Global Justice agent had to pull every trick out of her cybernetic body just to continue dodging the behemoth monsters lightning quick assaults. Kim estimated by the damage already done that a single blow from Kosch would likely put her in the hospital for a few weeks to have extensive repair done to her body’s framework. Yet what frightened Kim even more is the speed and fluidity of the attacks. Normally one would have to sacrifice a good deal of strength to maintain a level of agility to continuously attack and parry any counters, but Kosch was maintaining a solid triple threat: He had the strength to shatter concrete, the agility to parry any attacks, and the speed to never leave open a window.

“The hell is this thing?” Kim muttered as she leapt onto a wall and used her jump jets to throw her into the air over Kosch’s head, “He’s relentless!”

//A formidable opponent to be sure.//

[Well, do YOU have any suggestions?]

//Ignore him.//

“WHAT?!” Kim shouted out loud. The suggestions seemed so ludicrous that it actually distracted her for a mere moment that she only barely able to move her head out of the way of Kosch’s fist, which planted itself firmly in the wall and cut off a moderate chunk of Kim’s hair in the process.

//He’s occupying you so they can take that machine. That’s the mission. Not Kosch.//

Kim’s eyes darted to the side to see a team of WEE agents finishing up attaching magnetized hooks to the Ultimate Diablo. DataByte was right. The mission had to come first and she was running out of options. Kosch thrust forward with a trio of punches that Kim dodged by rolling under. The mechanical beast responded with a frightfully quick kick and Kim sprung from her roll into a crouching leap over the leg. She drew her gun and activated the targeting system in her HUD. She hesitated for only a second before she began to pull the trigger.

That second was all Kosch needed as he grabbed her arm and threw her into the former Doctor’s work desk. Kim screamed in pain as the electrical circuitry and wooden splinters made their way into her body as her heavy form shattered through the computer parts and hardwood.

//You can’t hesitate. He is using every single opening you give him.//

[I noticed. I just...]

//Look out!//

Kim’s eyes snapped back to right above her. Kosch was charging directly at her prone form, with claws out. Kim planted her hands into the remnants of the desk, with splinters digging deep into her one organic hand, before kicking out with her feet into a hand stand position. She used the momentum to launch herself toward Kosch, triggering a blast from her hand at the last second to propel her toward the hulking mechanical fiend feet first.

Kosch responded with lightning reflexes and reached out to grab her ankles but Kim was ready. As soon as his gauntlets brushed against her, she fired up her jump booster on her back, flipped herself over and landed on the ground beneath Kosch. Kim then launch herself upward, using her mechanical hand to land a powerful uppercut to Kosch’s jaw which sent the massive man flying backwards on to his back.

Kim wasted no time. She leapt toward the Ultimate Diablo and began to scrambled to the magnetic hooks. Her hand gripped tightly around the hook and tried with all her strength to rip the thing off of the Diablo, but the magnetic strength outpaced her own.

[Looks like Plan B.]

//Plan B?//

[Taking out the choppers.]

Kim then heard the sound of metallic scraping coming from below her. Kosch was beginning to climb up the side of the Diablo. Kim reached for her gun holster to find it empty. A quick glance to the shattered remains of the desk below revealed that Kim’s gun had been knocked aside and was lying on the ground still. “Shit,” was all the red-head could muster before starting to hoist herself up the robot.

[How is the big guy doing?]

//Checking sensors. He is gaining.//

[Of course he is.]

//Then why did you ask?//

[It’s called sarcasm DB. I just want one little break. That’s all. Just one thing to go my way tod-]

Suddenly, the Diablo began to shake and shift as it started to lift into the air. Kim gripped onto one of the robot’s horns to keep herself steady and took the chance to glance down. Kosch was indeed gaining as the city of Moscow appeared around them. In fact, he was only a few feet behind her. With his razor sharp claws ripping into the Diablo’s hide.

Kim paused for a moment. Razor sharp claws. She looked back at the 5” thick high tension steel cables that connected the helicopters with the magnetic hooks.

[I have a plan.]

//I do hope it is superior to the last few.//

[Shush. Just make sure my leg is ready to dance.]

Kim took a fighting pose near one of the cables and readied herself for Kosch’s arrival. The monster pulled himself up and stood on the head, effortlessly balanced on the moving object.

Kim grinned, letting Kosch see the blood on her teeth, “How’s it going Dudley Du Right? That’s right, asshole. I know who you are.”

Kosch stood silently for a moment before raising his fists.

“You were jealous, so you turned yourself into a monster.”

Kosch launched himself at her in a short contained burst, and at the final moment Kim lunged out of the way with the grace of a cheerleader. Kosch’s fist slammed through the thick steel cables and became lodged there.

//He was slower. Of course. He can’t risk going all out for fear of falling.//

Kim smiled as she spun around and landed a series of powerful kicks to Kosch’s side while he was stuck. She managed to even dent his exterior shell of armor.

[And we can use him to break the cables for us.]

Kosch let out a fierce roar and ripped his hand out of the cable, shredding it in the process. Kim took the opportunity to position herself in front of the opposite cable and taunted the beast using her best Bonnie Rockwaller impression, “Aw, what’s the matter Will? Upset that your still only second best to me?”

//Can I just mention that statistically he has outpaced you at nearly every turn.//

This time Kosch swung out with his hand flat and razor fingers exposed while also kicking forward with his massive boot. Kim swung around the cable and launched herself to another intact one just before the claws cut the cable clean across. Now with two cables left, Kim had only minutes before the helicopters got the robotic device out of the city.

Kosch looked down at the cut cables and then back at his clawed gauntlet. Kim bit her lip. Got to keep him angry. Got to keep him focused on her. “I heard Doctor Director say that she loooooves having a cyborg on her team now that I’m around. Have a machine to do her jobs is so much better than boring old Will Du.”

//Oh come now. I doubt that Will Du would stumble to fall for such a ploy that his former superior actually--//

Kosch clenched his fist and launched himself toward Kim once again. Kim grinned and looped her foot around the cable in preparation. As soon as Kosch’s fist closed in, Kim shot off her jump jet to spin around the cable.

[ See. I told you it would- ]

//KIM!//

Blood flew from Kim’s mouth as her abdomen collided with Kosch’s massive boot. The behemoth of a villain had anticipated Kim’s maneuver. Kim collapsed on her back on top of the Diablo.

//Diverting remaining power to stabilizing internal organs.//

Kim gasped for what air she could. She couldn’t move. She could barely breathe. Was this it? Her mind scrambled for a plan. She had never planned on taking a direct hit. She got sloppy. She… She could feel his steel fingers wrap around her throat.

Kosch lifted Kim Possible up until she was dangling in the air. A deep throated chuckle emitted from the masked monster, “YoU THOuGHT yOU WeRE IN ConTRol. YoU ALwAyS DiD.”

Kim struggled, letting her legs kick against Kosch’s reinforced body, but each movement caused the pain in her chest to grow. “Fuck you, Du,” she choked out.

Kosch calming strode to the edge of the Diablo and dangled Kim over the ledge. Below her was the outskirts of Moscow sprawling out. They had already reached the edges of the city, “oF COuRSe. KiM PosssssIblE caN NEVeR bE wroNG. hEr ENEmiES cOulD NEVER reSiSt heR aCTinG liKe THaT RoCKWallER BITCH.” Kosch tightened the grip around Kim’s neck. The cybertronic components built into her body beginning to crack under the pressure - “No ONe ExCepT ME.”

Kim’s eyes widened. Her vision was starting to grow dark around the edges in her good eye and her HUD was beginning to scramble but she forced herself to look directly at Kosch with a single question: “Who…?”

Kosch reached up with his free hand and pressed a small release valve on the underside of his mask. A cloud of hot stream poured out from the opening and filled Kim’s vision but she could hear the clank of metal being removed and dropped to the ground.

As the steam dissipated, she finally got a glimpse of the terror that haunted her dreams. His skin was pale, and somewhat translucent revealing embedded circuitry and mechanical bits hidden below the surface. Even still then the faintest hints of where freckles used to be dotted across his cheeks. His eyes were a soft brown punctuated with a brilliant glowing red emitting from the depths of his pupils. Most of his head was burnt and scarred, the remnants of the machines fusing with his body, but patches of dusty blonde hair could still be seen sticking out from his scalp.

Kim choked, “Oh… Oh god… no. NO.” And with that, Kosch the Killer released his grip on Kim Possible’s throat and sent the girl plummeting.As she fell, she could see Kosch mutter something and in her last moments of conscious barely lip-read the words:

Die. Kay. Pee.

Die KP.

And then she fell. Kim Possible dove back down toward the world she failed to save. Perhaps it would be better if she died. Perhaps the world didn’t need her. Not if she couldn’t even save her best friend and the love of her life. She thought in her final moments she could hear DataByte yelling at her. Not that it mattered. Not that any of it did.

* * *

Next: Interlude ~ Opposite


End file.
